Future doctors push for water policy changes

[TexasTowelie]

by Bahar Zarrabian & James Conwell

On our first day as medical students, we took the Osteopathic Oath. At the time, it felt almost surreal, but we knew it was important. One line in particular stood out: “I will be ever vigilant in aiding in the general welfare of the community”.

The Flint water crisis is a Michigan story we have all become too familiar with in the past year. In a cost-cutting effort, Flint’s water supply was changed, from treated water from Detroit’s utility to Flint River water, which was not properly treated with corrosion control. The result was so destructive that General Motors stopped using the water in its manufacturing, yet, was still, incorrectly, deemed safe for human consumption. Some 6,000 children in Flint have now been exposed to lead, and the city has been in a state of emergency.

Across the country, 33 cities in 17 states have been using water-testing shortcuts, not unlike those used in Flint, which may be concealing unsafe levels of lead. The health concerns are so widespread that there are an estimated 800,000 children with elevated lead levels in this country, yet only 10 percent of all children are tested.

Perhaps it was our backgrounds working in community health that gave us the idea, but the oath we took gave us a sense of responsibility; something had to be done.

Read more: http://bridgemi.com/2016/10/future-doctors-push-for-water-policy-changes/