Posted on 05/20/2010 8:32:44 AM PDT by jazusamo
The nation's premier public health agency knowingly used flawed data to claim that high lead levels in the District's drinking water did not pose a health risk to the public, a congressional investigation has found. And, investigators determined, the agency has not publicized more thorough internal research showing that the problem harmed children across the city and continues to endanger thousands of D.C. residents.
A House investigative subcommittee concludes that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made "scientifically indefensible" claims in 2004 that high lead in the water was not causing noticeable harm to the health of city residents. As terrified District parents demanded explanations for the spike in lead in their water, the CDC hurriedly published its calming analysis, knowing that it relied on incomplete, misleading blood-test results that played down the potential health impact, the investigation found.
The city utility says lead levels have been in the safe range in D.C. water since 2006, after a chemical change to reduce lead leaching. But the House report raises concerns about children in 9,100 residences throughout the city with partial lead-pipe replacements. Their parents may not know CDC research has found that children in such homes are four times as likely to have elevated lead in their blood.
The House science and technology subcommittee investigation, scheduled to be released Thursday, was spurred last year by one scientist's research and Washington Post reporting suggesting that the 2004 CDC analysis was missing many test results for children who might have lead poisoning. With its final report, the committee reveals that the missing data showed clear harm to children from the water -- and that CDC authors knew the data was flawed. It finds that CDC officials "failed in their public health duty."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Lead, autism, the swine flu vaccine (twice)....don’t worry there is lots more. I have been screaming and moaning about how our government is broken, and this is just one more piece of evidence. Their “mismanagement”, aka lying, about swine flu was bad enough, but this should make clear that the CDC culture has become dysfunctional and untrustworthy. CDC must be torn down and rebuilt by principled people in the medical sciences.
Yes, you should never trust government agencies especially when they are holding hands with billion dollar corporations. They are always, always being bribed and corrupted. Very few Mr. Smiths out there anymore.
This is most likely to be a problem with the Ph level of the water, making it a bit acidic. There is unlikely to be anything more than the slightest trace of lead in the raw water. Being somewhat acidic, the water “leeches” copper and lead from service lines, copper pipes and their old lead solder joints, and from fixtures. This problem is easily fixed by correcting the Ph of the water with a product such as Aquamag. This organo-phosphate corrects the Ph, and also coats all surfaces that are in contact with the water. This “coating” also lengthens the service life of tanks, water mains, etc.. We use it. Only problem? It costs a bit. Not too much, but still,,,,$
I should add that this “coating” eliminates the need to replace lead service lines, and old-style copper pipe with lead solder joints. Therefore, less work, and $, for the union workers. $$$$
I’ve always suspected it was something in the water over there.
A govt agency NOT looking out for the American people?
Say it ain’t so...
Yes, and it affects a lot of adults more than kids. :)
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