Just seven days after the release of book two in The Aurora Conspiracy series, I stumbled across an article which documents a real event that mirrors the plot line to an alarming degree. (Warning – spoilers ahead)
A British born associate professor from the Michigan State University Medical Center, discovered evidence pointing to toxic contamination of the city’s water supply. Armed with the data of blood lead levels of children living in the city of Flint, she went to the authorities and demanded action. Their response was less than helpful.
It seems that in a bid to save money, the local authority had swapped the water supply, from a paid source originating in Detroit, to their own River Flint. This associate professor, Mona Hannah-Attisha, came across an environmental impact study that claimed river management was inadequate, leading to a leaching of heavy metals, including lead, from the city’s aging waterpipes. Lead being a known neurotoxin is harmful at any concentration and its effects irreversible. This study concluded that the levels of lead were not just unsafe, but should have been classed as hazardous waste.
Reading this article, my conspiracy alarm bells rang when I saw the passage stating that children of Flint had regular blood tests to check levels of lead, as part of a routine healthcare programme. Why would levels of lead be routinely tested if they did not have prior knowledge of this issue? I cannot believe that blood tests could be considered an economy.
Blocked at the local council level, Hannah-Attisha’s own university refused to back her assertions. In desperation, she went public with the city’s press, and was then picked up by national news channels. Instead of the immediate action she was hoping for, a representative from Michigan’s Department of Environment Quality publicly accused her of generating hysteria, while the state governor announced that she had ‘spliced and diced’ data to fit her hypothesis.
It was only after reporters sent her raw data to a specialist for verification, that attitudes began to shift. Ten days after Hannah-Attisha’s broadcast, the local authority declared a public health emergency, stating that tap water should be filtered or replaced with bottled water. Within a fortnight, the city supply had reverted back to the Detroit source, despite earlier claims that it could not be done.
Since then, other studies have come to light regarding mismanagement of water and an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease, where twelve people died. Some of those involved may face manslaughter charges. And what of the city’s old lead pipes? Who knows. What are the long-term effects of drinking lead tainted water for three years? Only time will tell, but left unchecked, this situation could have been significantly worse. Why has this not made international headlines? I suspect it would throw doubt on hundreds of contaminated water supplies across the globe. No one in authority wants reporters and scientists to dig too deeply into the financial dealings of those responsible.
This is not an isolated incident, by any means. Britain has had its fair share of ‘accidental’ contamination and subsequent attempts to cover things up, Camelford in Cornwall being the most widely known.
We are all at the mercy of those in power. The extent of corruption will not become public knowledge, unless more of us have the courage to speak out. Bravo to Mona Hannah-Attisha, for having the guts to put her career and reputation on the line, to save so many people from harm.
Sam Nash is the author of the sci-fi thriller series, The Aurora Conspiracies. Books 1 & 2 are NOW AVAILABLE. Kindle: mybook.to/AuroraMandate . You can find her at https://www.samnash.org or on Twitter @samnashauthor or Facebook.com/samnash.author. Alternatively, you can download her free prequel novella series. Kindle: mybook.to/T-A-J-P01 ePub: books2read.com/u/4jwjJo