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[Piecake]

The fertility rate in Flint, Mich., dropped precipitously after the city decided to switch to lead-poisoned Flint River water in 2014, according to a new working paper.

That decline was primarily driven by what the authors call a “culling of the least healthy fetuses” resulting in a “horrifyingly large” increase in fetal deaths and miscarriages. The paper estimates that among the babies conceived from November 2013 through March 2015, “between 198 and 276 more children would have been born had Flint not enacted the switch in water,” write health economists Daniel Grossman of West Virginia University and David Slusky of Kansas University.

The harmful effects of lead exposure on children's health are well-documented. They include cognitive deficiencies, increased antisocial behavior, lower educational attainment, and a host of problems affecting the brain, kidneys and liver.

Less well-known are lead's effects on fetal health. Literature reviewed by Grossman and Slusky shows that maternal lead exposure is linked to “fetal death, prenatal growth abnormalities, reduced gestational period, and reduced birth weight.” A 2013 study, for instance, found an increase in fetal deaths and a reduction of births in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2003, when lead levels were elevated in the city's drinking water.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...al-deaths-study-finds/?utm_term=.ce9b5286d8e9

 

[Pikma]

Fuck that is grim and just so infuriating

 

[Chmpocalypse]

Someone needs to go to prison.

 

[bobbytkc]

What the fuck. That graph is just horrifying. The long term effects on the surviving children is not even accounted for yet.

 

[WiiredShawn]

Where's all the Republican concern for "the sanctity of life" now, hmm?

Seriously, this is horrible.

 

[ChrisD]

It physically hurts looking at that chart. Thinking of the heartbreaks. That is horrifying.

 

[enzo_gt]

Truly one of the biggest human judgment error fuck ups in recent memory.

Virtually forgotten, pushed to the fringes of political discourse, and the consequences, still haven't fixed it yet while everyone is continually being poisoned, good god. America really doesn't care about black people huh

 

[UberTag]

America doesn't care about anyone that isn't rich, a celebrity or a corporation... no matter what color they happen to be.

 

[double jump]

Where's all the Republican concern for "the sanctity of life" now, hmm?

Seriously, this is horrible.

I didn't want to go "there" but you kinda have to. Pro lifers should be livid especially the single issue voters.

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Truly one of the biggest human judgment error fuck ups in recent memory.

Virtually forgotten, pushed to the fringes of political discourse, and the consequences, still haven't fixed it yet while everyone is continually being poisoned, good god. America really doesn't care about black people huh

We've never actually gotten past that original sin.

White people will have to be one of many minorities before I'd expect anything to really change. And they definitely have to lose their stranglehold on the reigns of power.

So... the next 30 years barring some evil white fuck racially cleansing the country.

It's going to be ugly. White people haven't used power equitably, they won't lose it equitably. They fear a race war because of the injustices they've perpetrated on those of other races, not realizing that they're projecting. White people will be the ones to start a race war. Either as they're losing power, or immediately after.

And being a white guy, you know which ones I'm talking about. Not me, not the bulk of the white peeps here. But there are some with an evil in their core. Maybe an ignorance... but with the election of Trump I question that more and more. It seems like an evil to me. An outright disdain for brown people. Wanting to stop covering their racial animosity in "political correctness", their misogyny.

White male supremacy.

It's 20 fucking 17 and I have to post that about the state of the country.

So no... this country really doesn't like black people. And I really don't like the country right now.

I smoked a bit earlier, and this thread freaking hurt. It's beyond evil that this even happened. To still be a problem is a crime against humanity. Some people should be serving a life sentence for this.

 

[Radiant Silvertuna]

Absolutely monstrous. Sickening.

 

[Hobbestetrician]

Snyder and everyone else in his administration that had a hand in this should never see the outside of a prison again.

But then that would require a fair and just world.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

Where's all the Republican concern for "the sanctity of life" now, hmm?

Seriously, this is horrible.

Well I mean clearly they mean only white lives.

 

[Souldriver]

Criminal. Unimaginable. It happened in the USA in 2016.

How,what,why.

In any normal country this would lead to new laws, research commissions, arrests, long term policy changes, new chapters in history books,... At least, I would hope.

Meanwhile, in Flint, it's just something that kinda happened.

 

[Painguy]

This is horrifying. Honestly feel sick every time I hear about this. The people allowing this must be all kinds of fucked up in the head. Like wtf bruh.

 

[RinsFury]

Fucking disgusting, those responsible need to rot behind bars. How could this even happen?

 

[Mariolee]

Shared this story, it's absolutely horrifying. Did a research paper on Flint due to these lead issues and fuck was it depressing. Such grim bullshit over a Republican official just trying to save a few bucks.

 

[Piecake]

Where's all the Republican concern for "the sanctity of life" now, hmm?

Seriously, this is horrible.

Yea, I was really tempted to make a comment about that in the OP. I mean, according to Republicans, isnt Rick Synder a mass murderer now?

 

[Kthulhu]

Shared this story, it's absolutely horrifying. Did a research paper on Flint due to these lead issues and fuck was it depressing. Such grim bullshit over a Republican official just trying to save a few bucks.

What did they even do with the savings?

 

[pirateluigi]

Yea, I was really tempted to make a comment about that in the OP. I mean, according to Republicans, isnt Rick Synder a mass murderer now?

You'd think, but here in Michigan people still bend over backward trying to defend him.

 

[Mathieran]

Sick. There is blood on people's hands and they probably will get re elected for it.

 

[VariantX]

I didn't want to go "there" but you kinda have to. Pro lifers should be livid especially the single issue voters.

I always felt like thats a distraction from the core issue and they're just hiding behind that argument. They don't give a shit that babies die in or out of the womb, they give a shit about a woman's right and ability to choose.

 

[SolarPowered]

Criminal. Unimaginable. It happened in the USA in 2016.

How,what,why.

In any normal country this would lead to new laws, research commissions, arrests, long term policy changes, new chapters in history books,... At least, I would hope.

Meanwhile, in Flint, it's just something that kinda happened.

Just another Friday in Amerikkka.

 

[DrBo42]

Where's all the Republican concern for "the sanctity of life" now, hmm?

Seriously, this is horrible.

Yeah, hard not to think about that angle.

 

[Kayhan]

How is this happening in a First World country?

 

[KernelPanic]

How is this happening in a First World country?

It's what happens when the needs of the rich few take precedence over everyone else.

 

[Kthulhu]

How is this happening in a First World country?

This can be asked about a lot of things in this country.

You'd think, but here in Michigan people still bend over backward trying to defend him.

What the hell for? He's responsible for poisoning an entire town.

 

[exmachina64]

You'd think, but here in Michigan people still bend over backward trying to defend him.

Everyone that defends him is a racist.

 

[youbastards]

I guess the moral imperative means that all the Planned Parenthood protesters are about to relocate to Flint, huh.

 

[SolarPowered]

How is this happening in a First World country?

The USA is a somewhat stratified country and some people may live lives that are more like those of someone in a developing country than a first world country. How you live and what sort of services (medicine, infrastructure, education, law enforcement) are available to you depends on a lot of things (race and income being huge parts of it) that aren't always in your control. Just take American healthcare for instance.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/models.html

These four models should be fairly easy for Americans to understand because we have elements of all of them in our fragmented national health care apparatus. When it comes to treating veterans, we're Britain or Cuba. For Americans over the age of 65 on Medicare, we're Canada. For working Americans who get insurance on the job, we're Germany.

For the 15 percent of the population who have no health insurance, the United States is Cambodia or Burkina Faso or rural India, with access to a doctor available if you can pay the bill out-of-pocket at the time of treatment or if you're sick enough to be admitted to the emergency ward at the public hospital.

The United States is unlike every other country because it maintains so many separate systems for separate classes of people. All the other countries have settled on one model for everybody. This is much simpler than the U.S. system; it's fairer and cheaper, too.