Standing at a microphone in September holding up a baby bottle, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a local pediatrician, said she was deeply worried about the water. The number of Flint children with elevated levels of lead in their blood had risen alarmingly since the city changed its water supply the previous year, her analysis showed.<\/p>\n
Within hours of Dr. Hanna-Attisha\u2019s news conference, Michigan state officials pushed back \u201d\u201d hard. A Department of Health and Human Services official said that the state had not seen similar results and that it was working with a much larger set of data. A Department of Environmental Quality official was quoted as saying the pediatrician\u2019s remarks were \u201cunfortunate,\u201d\u009d described the mood over Flint\u2019s water as \u201cnear-hysteria\u201d\u009d and said, as the authorities had insisted for months, that the water met state and federal standards.<\/p>\n
Dr. Hanna-Attisha said she went home that night feeling shaky and sick, her heart racing. \u201cWhen a state with a team of 50 epidemiologists tells you you\u2019re wrong,\u201d\u009d she said, \u201chow can you not second-guess yourself?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
No one now argues with Dr. Hanna-Attisha\u2019s findings. Not only has she been proved right, but Gov. Rick Snyder publicly thanked her on Tuesday \u201cfor bringing these issues to light.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n