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U.S. CDC confirms higher lead levels in Flint kids over water source switch

Xinhua, June 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Blood lead levels in young children in Flint, Michigan were significantly elevated after the source of the U.S. city's water supply was switched to the highly corrosive local river, according to a government report released Friday.

After the switch back to the Detroit water system, the percentage of children under six years with higher blood lead levels returned to levels seen before the water switch took place, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its report.

"This crisis was entirely preventable, and a startling reminder of the critical need to eliminate all sources of lead from our children's environment," Patrick Breysse, director of CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, said in a statement.

To understand the impact of consuming contaminated drinking water on children's blood lead levels, CDC researchers examined data on levels of lead in blood of children younger than six years before, during and after the switch in Flint's water source.

The current CDC blood lead level of concern is five or more micrograms of lead per deciliter (µg/dL) of blood.

From April 25, 2014, to Oct. 15, 2015, the period when the Flint River was used for drinking water, lead levels in the city's tap water increased over time and analysis of children's blood samples detected an increase in blood lead levels higher than five µg/dL.

The likelihood that a child consuming the water would have a blood lead level greater than five µg/dL was nearly 50 percent higher after the switch to Flint River water, the CDC said.

The agency urged Flint residents to use lead-certified water filters on their household taps to get water for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth.

While regular household tap water can be used for bathing and showering because lead is not absorbed into the skin, parents should watch young children to prevent them from drinking bath water, it added.

The Flint water crisis started in April 2014, when a cost-cutting decision diverted the city's water source from treated Detroit Water to the polluted Flint River.

The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, resulting in extremely elevated levels of the heavy metal.

Criminal charges have been filed against three officials, including two of Michigan's environmental regulators. Endit