Lead in Flint man's blood is 5 times what's toxic
Katrease Stafford,
Detroit Free Press 9:01 a.m. EST February 18, 2016
Flint resident Aaron Stinson, 39, discusses getting news that he has the
highest blood lead level in county for adults during Flint water crisis. Ryan
Garza,
Detroit Free Press
635913457784834540-Snapseed.JPGBuy Photo
Aaron Stinson, 39, of Flint thought he was just tired or working too hard. The
lead poisoning diagnosis stunned him. "I'm still trying to wrap my brain
around it." In adults, poisoning can cause brain swelling and death.(Photo:
Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo
Aaron Stinson shook his head and wiped the sweat from his brow as he sat in a
brown, oversized sofa chair in the living room of his aunt's Flint home.
Excessive sweating, fatigue and severe headaches are just a handful of
inexplicable symptoms he has experienced over the last six months, seemingly out
of nowhere.
And while he has seen several news reports of Flint residents experiencing
similar ailments after drinking the city's contaminated water, Stinson initially
brushed it off, thinking he was fine.
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Until now.
Stinson, 39, said Genesee County Health Department officials told him a Feb. 4
test showed he has the highest lead-blood levels of any adult that has been
tested in the county to date. Stinson's results, reviewed by the Free Press,
revealed that he has blood-lead levels of 27 micrograms per decileter of blood
(27 ug/dl), five times the level considered toxic. Levels above 5 micrograms
are considered toxic, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The CDC recommends intervention for anyone with elevated blood
levels above 5 micrograms in order to remove lead sources.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said in an e-mail to the
Free Press on Wednesday that since Oct. 1, 2015, only 44 of the 3,674 adult
blood-lead level tests in Flint showed results greater than or equal to 5 ug/dl.
The state confirmed that only one of those adults tested had a blood-lead level
of 27, which was the highest recorded and one of four higher than 15.
"I consume a lot of water," Stinson said Tuesday. "That may be where my issue
came in at, thinking that I'm living healthy and drinking something that I
thought was pure for my body. ... It's hard to really express how I feel,
because I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it. My body is tainted with
lead. Living with a limited water supply in the free world, it's hard. ...
We're not getting answers."
Stinson said he drank the water for a time after the city, while under the
control of a state-appointed emergency manager, switched the water source to
the Flint River in April 2014 as a temporary cost-cutting move. The state
Department of Environmental Quality failed to require the addition of needed
corrosion-control chemicals. As a result, corrosive water caused lead to leach
from pipes, joints and fixtures, causing many citizens to receive water
with unsafe lead levels.
"I was having the symptoms, thinking it was maybe something I ate," Stinson
recalled. "Or maybe I've been working too much or moving around too much. I
went down there (to the county health department), took the test on the fourth
of February, and got a call back on the seventh, and she said she was concerned
about my blood-lead levels.
"At the time, I didn't understand what that meant fully. I understood that lead
was bad for you, but I didn't understand the ramifications of it or how
serious it was or what it really meant until she started explaining it. She
said the average adult ... tested had a level of one or two."
Stinson was stunned by the lead poisoning diagnosis. He said he felt a mixture
of confusion and sudden sickness.
"When I got the results back, I was nauseated," he said, clasping his hands.
"Sick. Kind of confused and really trying to figure out: What does this mean
for me and where do I go from here? I'm still puzzled. It still hasn't set in."
Now, he said, he uses only filtered water and bottled water, except when he
bathes. But sometimes, out of habit, he forgets and accidentally uses the
contaminated
water to brush his teeth.
"Everybody wakes up in the morning and washes their face, brush their teeth and
drink a cup of water," he said. "It's something I grew up doing my whole
life, and now I gotta freeze or hold and try not to forget to put my toothbrush
under the water, and it's hard."
Holding two lead- and copper-level test results in his hand from January that
showed water in his home was safe to drink, Stinson said he's frustrated.
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Stinson's test results show he has blood-lead levelsBuy Photo
Stinson's test results show he has blood-lead levels of 27 micrograms per
deciliter of blood. Levels above 5 micrograms are considered toxic. (Photo: Ryan
Garza, Detroit Free Press)
"I received letters in the mail telling me my water meets the state
qualifications as being safe enough to consume, but I can tell you there's not
a state
lawmaker in Lansing or anywhere else who would drink just a tiny cup of Flint
water out of that tap right now, and that's where my issue lies," he said.
"If they can come down from Lansing, run my water and drink a full glass of
water from the tap, maybe I'll believe it's safe."
Stinson's also worried. He said much of the news coverage on the Flint crisis
has focused on children and not the potential impact lead poisoning can have
on adults, as well. He no longer trusts any water system and even questions
the water at the restaurants he frequents in and outside of Flint.
"I still want to be in denial a little bit," he said. "It's surreal. I'm
basically going to have to live with this until it takes its toll on my body.
It's
just a matter of time. All I can do is keep going forward and hopefully, I can
stretch my life out as long as I can."
Henry Ford Health System neurologist Peter LeWitt said adults exposed to lead
poisoning can suffer from anemia, neurotrophy — which causes weakness, numbness
or pain due to nerve damage — brain swelling and even death.
"There's nothing good about lead poisoning," Lewitt said.
LeWitt said a wealth of research has been conducted on the impact lead
poisoning can have on adults, specifically a potential link to Parkinson's
disease.
"In fact, that has been an area of research at Henry Ford for many years,"
LeWitt said. "The cause of Parkinson's is not known, but there seems to be an
environmental link. ...There has been published data that indicated increased
risk associated with high lead levels of exposure. ...It isn't a strong
association,
but one that is scientifically compelling."
LeWitt said there's testing at Wayne State University to determine whether
there's an actual link between the two. LeWitt said testing has shown that
exposing
rodents to lead damages the same nerve cells that are lost in individuals who
suffer from Parkinson's. Adults exposed to lead poison have a twofold risk
of being diagnosed with Parkinson's, but LeWitt noted that most individuals who
suffer from the disease do not have lead poisoning.
Dr. Eden Wells, the state’s chief medical executive, said that while she
doesn't know anything specific about Stinson's case, a blood-lead level as high
as 27 would definitely "perk her ears."
"I consume a lot of water," said Aaron Stinson, atBuy Photo
"I consume a lot of water," said Aaron Stinson, at his aunt's home in Flint.
"That may be where my issue cam in at, thinking that I"m living healthy and
drinking something that I thought was pure for my body." Now he has lead
poisoning, "I really don't know where we're going to go from here." (Photo: Ryan
Garza, Detroit Free Press)
Source:
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/02/17/lead-flint-mans-blood-5-times-whats-toxic/80507268/
