I Had To Fight With My Sons Doctor To Get Him Tested For Lead Poisoning!

A clip from the GMO Free News 1+hour interview session with mother LeeAnne Walters regarding the Flint Water Crisis and her children's health.

“It is too late for my (4-year old) son, but I will not stand by and let this happen to another innocent child in Flint.” LeeAnne Walters, MDEQ Mistakes and Deception Created the Flint Water Crisis

Transcript (edited for clarity)

LeeAnne Walters: I had to fight with my son's pediatrician to get the testing to begin with.

Jack Olmsted, Videoblogging 206/GMO Free News: What was the fight over?

LeeAnne: The letter they (City of Flint) gave us for the TTHMs (trihalomethanes). It said that if you have a compromised immune system you should talk to your doctor.

So, I went in and spoke with his pediatrician and the pediatrician wrote me a note saying that because of his compromised immune system that he couldn't consume the water.

Every time he would have contact with the water he would break out and these horrible, just horrific rashes. To the point where he had to have Benadryl before every bath because of how severely he was breaking out .

I took a video to show the doctor what his skin looked like before bath and after bath. You could actually see a water line across his stomach from the waist down from being submerged in the water. So. then the doctor wrote me a note saying that Gavin broke out....his skin breaks out every time he comes in contact with the water.

I went back in for our next visit, after the city decided, they wanted to start doing lead and copper tests because of the discoloration.

I walked in and the doctor just started going off on me about having an agenda. He had been in contact with the City. What he was being told by the City was completely different from what I was telling him. And he was NOT going to do anything in regards to my children....when it came to the water.

I said, "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Wait a second. Why are you talking to the City? I didn't give you permission for that". He had a bunch of documents in his hand. Everything that I tried to hand him he refused to take from me.

He refused to have my kids tested for lead and copper at this point.

About two weeks later, I got my lead/copper test back from the city. I got a frantic phone call from Mike Glasgow, with the water department, telling me to make sure that my kids were NOT drinking this water. If I was making juice, to make sure that I was not mixing their juice with this water. To make sure they were not consuming the water.

Because my lead level was at 104 ppb and they've never seen a lead level that high in the City and that is concerning for them because 15 ppb is the max according to the EPA.

At that point, I called the doctor's office, and said, “Hey, I just found out that I just had this test...it is at 104 ppb. I need lab slips for my kids today”.

I was told, "I'm sorry you need to bring that report down to us and we need to wait to hear from the City before we move forward."

So, I went down to the water department and got a copy... and went to the doctor’s office and said, "OK here it is. Give me my lab slips.....Now! Either you are going to order the lab slips today or you are going to give me a letter telling me why you're waiting to hear from the City before you treat my children”.

I was there for an hour and a half and then the city actually emailed my doctor and CC'd me into it...and when that happened... minutes later, I had the lab slips for my kids.

I couldn't figure out where they (City) played into this. Like why this was such a big deal?

I figured out that the emergency manager's assistant was actually (Jerry) Ambrose's assistant and that is the wife of my pediatrician. So, there's the link between the pediatrician and the City of Flint. When I made that information public, she got moved over....

Jack: Who got moved over?

The emergency manager's assistant.

Jack:. But, the doctor, there were no repercussions on the doctor? Is this normal procedure that the doctor confers with the City and waits for the City to have a seal of approval before they give parents laps slips?

LeeAnne: Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

We actually ended up going to a dermatologist outside of the City and that was the one that finally ran the tests for us. The test showed that my son had lead poisoning and anemia from the lead poisoning.

Jack: Is there anybody that is bringing this doctor to task for what he did at this point in time or do they pretend like it never happened?

LeeAnne: It's a work in progress. It is something that we are working on. It wasn't just my family...for the longest time the doctors in the City would tell you, "Yes, I believe that it's the water, but we are not allowed to put anything in writing." I can’t tell you how many people told us that.

Jack: Who told the doctors they were not allowed to put something in writing? Who is the grand authority over the doctors? I thought that their first responsibility was the care to their patients?

LeeAnne: That is the million dollar question. Nobody knows that...

Jack: They basically had a gag order specifically on doing lead tests?

LeeAnne: Actually, it was on people that were having any issues from the water.

Jack: It sounds almost like a conspiracy, How can you get doctors to agree to that?

LeeAnne: I don't no? I'm not one of those people. I'm one of those people that would not shut up. So, I can’t answer that for you.

Jack: It sounds like something out of a "B" movie that would never happen in real life. I mean we're talking about doctors. They are educated. They went to medical school. They have a practice. They are seeing patients and then they are given a directive, "you can't do this," and everybody complies. What are they going to do? Take away their medical license? There were zero doctors to stand up to this advisory?

LeeAnne: Well, part of the problem were the lies from the MDEQ and from the City of Flint on the water. And the fact that all the testing that was coming back from the EPA was saying that we were in compliance.

So, at this point we were considered crazy whack-jobs, we didn't know what we were talking about. We were trouble makers.

And you know everything was coming back normal.

At that point, it was...we have to prove that there is a problem. They are not listening to us and that is when I started talking with Miguel Del Toral at the EPA.



Flint Water Crisis YouTube Playlist

Erin Brockovich Sent Us A Water Expert To Test The Flint River Water

The transcript is from above video clip.

Melissa Mays, "Water You Fighting For?": We started doing more research and we found out in February that there were really high levels of lead.

The EPA maximum is 15 parts per billion. There is one citizen that she had 397 parts-per-billion. We started pushing the testing and telling citizens - get your water tested. Please get your water tested.

More people were popping out with forty parts-per-billion thirty parts-per-million which is not safe.

As we were trying to contact the EPA, we found out that there's actually no safe level for lead exposure. http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/lcr/fs_consumer.cfm

So, they're trying to tell us it's fine. It's only small areas. You guys be fine.

Don't worry about the total trihalomethanes. Don't worry about the e.coli. Don't worry about the lead. It's safe.

On top of all this, soon after the actual switch, our water was brown yellow. Mine was blue and green because of the copper. Just disgusting. The smell either smelled like bleach or it smelled like an old stagnant pond or it smelled like dirt. Just horrible. And they're like it'll be fine. Just run your tap for a few minutes. It will be fine.

WNEM TV 5

The mayor kept saying, "I drink it everyday. It's perfectly fine."

And so people were getting upset.

Because we're told that you have to pay these ridiculously high rates for water that has such low quality.

We got a hold of Erin Brockovich and she sent a water expert out to help us, Bob Bowcock. He's been in water treatment for thirty years. He said it was a mess. He told them on Valentine's Day, we had a large March, and he told the city that we were out of compliance for the copper rule because they weren't doing the proper testing and we had no corrosion control. Which is unheard of.

So, we were yelling and screaming about this. They told us, "oh, you're just a crazy bunch of moms," no big deal.

We had our water tested and it came back with copper and lead. High copper and lead. I went ahead and had our blood tested and we found out my husband, myself and our three sons all had copper poisoning. So, we started working on the side effects and encouraging everyone to get tested.

Test your water. Test your blood. See a doctor.

Because the damage from lead poisoning is irreversible.

On top of it, its not just lead. We've got copper. We've got tin. We've got aluminum.

All neurotoxins. All extremely dangerous, when you introduce them to hot water.

Consuming them is bad.

But, also showering. Doing your dishes.

I have an environmental physician now and she said even the clothes you wear heavy metals are stored in the fabric and it rubs on your skin or if you sweat in them or your sheets at night you're going to absorb that.

So, it's a constant, it's a constant toxic danger to even be in your own home or in on your own clothes.

So, on top of the extremely high bills, we were buying bottled water.

Just to be able to cook. I we had a documentation come out to the house and it took us 12 bottles of water to make a pot of jambalaya.

So, the cost was ridiculous, especially since we have two puppies, a cat and three very active 11 12 and 17 year old sons that consume a lot of water.

So, there's a lot of people that actually lost their homes. They couldn't afford the water bill so they would put a lien on the property and home be foreclosed upon. So, right now there's a lawsuit for 21,000 people who lost their homes due to their water bills and the lien being placed on them.

Now, that part isn't illegal.

What is illegal is that, in 2011, our mayor raised our rates illegally 35%.

A judge just told them you have to roll back the rates.

You have to do this, this, this and they still haven't done it.

Our bill hasn't gone down and it's actually gone up. We received a bill for one week for one unit and it was a $193.88. For water that we weren't even using except basically to flush the toilet and to bath.

HR 1599/DARK Act Letter To Senator

Dear Senator ..................,

When I became a mother, I did not know that I should have studied medicine in college, but that is what it takes for me, and thousands of other mothers. My children, like so many others, suffer from autoimmune issues that the vast majority of medical professionals are not trained to treat. Today, 54% of American children have a chronic health condition. Children who suffer from allergies, autism, asthma, ADHD and autoimmune issues are now very common in every classroom, and the numbers are climbing. Massive collections of Epi pens fill the cabinets in every school nurse’s office. As parents, we need to be very careful about our children’s diet, and we need to know what ingredients are in everything. Parenting is not the same as it was when I was a child. When I was in school I did not know one child with a food allergy that could kill them. Now there are at least two children with such allergies in every class.


In fact, GMOs have been linked to allergies in the case of the Starlink corn.

The science is in no way settled on the matter of the safety of these foods. Many high-level scientists with impeccable credentials are NOT convinced that GE foods are safe.

A major concern that I have with GM foods is the level of pesticides used in their farming. Approximately 80% of all GM crops are what are referred to as “Roundup Ready” or glyphosate tolerant. So the foods are sprayed with glyphosate, which would normally kill the plants, but the GE plants are resistant, so they keep growing and they are sprayed sometimes 2-3 times before harvest. The problem with this technology is a growing weed resistance to glyphosate. So farmers are applying it in increasing amounts in a futile attempt to combat the “super weeds”.

Since the glyphosate is continuing to fail, beginning this year, they are ADDING Dicamba or 2,4-D to that mix. We have also found that contrary to industry claims, glyphosate actually bioaccumulates in our systems. In fact, in three different random samplings, two groups of nursing mothers in the U.S. and one group of mothers in Germany, glyphosate was found in their breast milk. In fact, the mother with the highest detectable level in Pennsylvania is living with the heartbreak of an infant with cancer.

These chemicals do not wash off, but rather, they are absorbed into the plant and its food, and it goes into our bodies.

Toxins in our bodies are a great concern on many levels. The addition of glyphosate to our food supply is frightening because the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the specialized cancer agency of the World Health Organization, has stated unequivocally that it causes cancer in mammals and therefore is likely to also cause cancer in humans. Many countries are in fact moving to ban glyphosate, which is a key chemical for GM farming.

Toxins in children’s bodies today are higher than ever.

Weekly Womens GMO Free News

Weekly Womens GMO Free News
A weekly Google Hangout for women who want to know what is in their food

Co-Hosts 

Leslie Stoddard (Idaho) 

YouTube Channel

Facebook
Photo

"I'm very excited to be part of Weekly Women GMO Free News and Information Hangout in conjunction with other passionate female activists across the nation!

In the fall of 2009 I heard the term GMO for the first time and my life has never been the same. Out of anger, frustration, and because I felt betrayed, I co-founded GMO Free Idaho and started to educate those who are not aware that our food supply has been genetically altered with foreign DNA by corporations who are notorious for having a totally lack of respect for humanity and our planet.

As I travel down this road, I have come to meet many other activists and passionate consumers who have the same goals in sight....to see GM foods pushed off our grocery store shelves, and the corporations responsible for poising our planet and potentially the human population, put to justice.

GMO Free News and Information is going to be an excellent resource and a great place for all of us to learn and grow! It's exciting to watch the women I will be working with create positive changes in their own communities. This is an opportunity for us to come together and share our experiences, ideas, interviews, and calls to action to further assist in the changes we are all seeking."

"Genetically modified foods have never been human safety tested. As a person who has suffered from food allergies and digestive disease, I cannot help but wonder if GM foods are responsible. That's why I believe consumers have the right to know when they are eating GM foods. The corporations that create GM seed need to honor consumers by providing transparency about their practices and when our food contains their modified ingredients."

"The issues surrounding GMOs are vast. Cross contamination is by far one of the most disturbing aspects of genetic modification. 50% of heritage corn varieties in Mexico have become contaminated with Monsanto's GMO traits and this corporation is not being held responsible for what I call bioterrorism. Nor are enough consumers standing up and saying we will NOT tolerate the reduction of the biodiversity of our food supply. This is partly because most consumers are not aware of GMOs and partly because the consumers who are aware do not understand the consequences of such contamination.

In short, if we do not stop GMO production.....cross contamination, we will be dependent on only a few varieties of seed, provided by only a handful of multi-national corporations. In my opinion, GMOs are the biggest threat to the survival of humanity and our planet.

The only way to create change is by using our purchasing dollars as a vote. It it critical that we make this current paradigm obsolete by purchasing organic, local, grass-fed, and non-GMO foods."
 

Zen Honeycutt (CA) 

Video Interview

Blog

Facebook 

Bio:

Photo:

The Dalai Lama said :Western Women will change the world". That time is now. Women all across America are coming together, speaking out and causing change through grassroots movements, legislation, ballot initiatives and reaching out to their neighbors and friends to share with them about Genetically Modified foods and their health risks. 

Every human needs food and the way it is raised and grown effects every one of us. In the United States, what we allow or don't allow impacts the rest of the world. 

I am honored every, day to meet other women who care enough share about GMOs and change the world." -Zen Honeycutt Mom of 3 and Moms Across America founder

Laurie Olson (WA)

Facebook

Video:

Bio:

Photo:

Learning about Genetically Modified Food is very isolating, especially if you are the only one you know who has ever heard of it.  In March of 2010, I was fortunate enough to have two friends who helped me along in those first weeks.   

I got on the web, found answers, more people and groups who connected me to information and solutions.  What I found out is that our government is pushing Genetically Engineered Seeds on other countries in our name.  They say that we have been eating them for years and while that is true, we need to take a good hard look at what it has done to the people in our country.   

No matter what happens in the political arena we need to remember that we vote three times a day and we need to think about that every time we go to the grocery store. 

Laurie Olson: Wife, Mom to 3, Volunteer with WA State Tipping Point Network, GMO Free USA and Label It WA.

Andrea Frostad (WA) 

Facebook

Video

Bio

Photo

Hippocrates stated, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

I know firsthand how food is our medicine and can heal.  Food is our way to vibrant health, and it is my duty to protect my health, the health of my family, and the food that will provide that.
   
I believe that the world’s living systems have evolved over millennia into highly organized systems. It is a simplistic and arrogant view to think that we can tinker with the system at this stage of our knowledge and not face serious consequences.

I have never felt as connected to a cause as I have since I began campaigning on the issue of genetically engineered food. Millions of people around the globe are joining together in shedding light on the agenda of the bio-industry. How has labeling, our right to know, come to be perceived as a threat to our economic and political sanctity?  I think Godwin Ojo from Africa states it best: "Hunger has become a political tool for manipulating people and nations, a situation which has devastating impacts on the poor..."  Why are Mexican peasant farmers on hunger strike protesting the threat of 6 million acres of GM corn being grown on their soil, and what does this have to do with labeling?  Apparently everything!  Join us as we discuss the many layers of this issue.

Women have an instinct and a power to follow it.  We are a force to be reckoned with.

I am a mother of three growing boys and a lover of food.

Rachel Linden (AZ)
Video Interview

Facebook 

Bio

Photo 
Website
PPT 

Press Release: (February 19)

Headline:

GMO Free News and Information Weekly Women Google Hangouts Show To Focus On Washington Food Label Initiative I-522

Sub Headline

Monsanto's Gifts to Humanity: Leslie Stoddard of GMO Free Idaho (Part 1)

Leslie Stoddard talks about the unethical practices of Monsanto. Part 1 in a series call "Unethical Agriculture".

Resources
Monsanto hid Decades of Pollution in Anniston, Alabama (Video, 6mins)

U. S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
SUPERFUND FACT SHEET
Amended Agreement for Removal Action
ANNISTON PCB SITE 

Toxic Secret, A 60 minutes report on Anniston, Alabama

Today, parts of Anniston are so contaminated that residents have been told not to grow vegetables in the soil, kick up dirt, eat food, chew gum or smoke cigarettes while working in their yards.

"Our children have to play in the streets, on the sidewalks, because they can't play in the grass because it's contaminated," says resident David Baker.

"We have to wear masks if we cut our grass. Where else in the United States of America are people doing that?"

The problem is polychlorinated byphenyls - PCBs - one of the most pervasive and profitable industrial chemicals of 20th Century America.

They were used as insulators in electric transformers, and mixed into everything from paint to newsprint.

They were invented in Anniston in 1929 and manufactured here by Monsanto for almost 40 years - a source of wealth and jobs until the 1970s, when it became clear that PCBs were doing more harm to the environment than good for industry.

Food and Water Watch Washington - Seattle Day of Action

(1) Seattle Day of Action Photo Gallery

National FFA Organization - Press Releases

National FFA Organization - Press Releases

INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, Jan. 28, 2013/National FFA Foundation) – FFA members in 15 states can now register for the 2013 FFA Chapter Challenge presented by Monsanto.

The 2013 FFA Chapter Challenge, a third-year program now available to more than 3,800 FFA chapters and 265,000 FFA members and sponsored by Monsanto, challenges FFA members to make meaningful connections with local agriculturists with a new twist.

FFA chapters will now compete in one of two contests with the FFA Chapter Challenge: option one requires FFA members to interview and document local agriculturists who then vote for a chapter, and option two requires FFA members build a portfolio of agriculturist and community member interviews, develop a social media plan and film a video promoting agricultural awareness. Two FFA chapters, one from each contest area, will win the grand prize to attend October’s 86th National FFA Convention & Expo in Louisville, Ky.

Before FFA chapters are eligible for the program, they must register at www.FFAChapterChallenge.com. FFA members in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin are eligible in 2013.

Other prizes will be awarded to each state’s top ten FFA chapters in either category for the FFA Chapter Challenge. Those prizes, a line of credit for use on FFA expenses such as supplies or national convention registration fees, range from $2,500 to $100. As a sponsor of the program, Monsanto will provide more than $300,000 in incentives.

“Monsanto is thrilled to partner again with the National FFA Foundation and support this year’s exciting new changes to the Chapter Challenge competition,” said Elizabeth Vancil, Monsanto customer advocacy outreach manager. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for local FFA chapters to not only learn from those within the agriculture community, but also to develop an outreach plan that will help champion agriculture’s message to those who are part of our broader community.”

“FFA and Monsanto are both delighted to bring the FFA Chapter Challenge in 2013,” said Rob Cooper, executive director of the National FFA Foundation. “This program encourages FFA members to better understand local agriculture, see a variety of potential careers and exhibit the great qualities of FFA members everywhere to the public.”