title:  You Won’t Believe What GOP Lead Poisoning Truthers Just Said About The Flint Water Crisis (VIDEO)
text: The GOP never ceases to amaze with its consistent insanity. This time the insanity has to do with the water contamination issue in Flint, Michigan. A Michigan Republican said that the Flint water crisis may be overstated and another said that it s actually a  hoax.  L. Brooks Patterson, an Oakland County executive said that the water crisis had been  vastly overstated. However, blood testing of Flint s children has found dangerously high levels of lead after the cash strapped city stopped buying water from Detroit and instead drew corrosive water from the Flint River beginning in April, 2014. Despite the tests, Patterson is skeptical. He made the statement after  GOP political analyst Bill Ballenger had opened a debate on the issue during a radio interview.  I think, well, that s the other side,  Patterson said.  Let s wait and see what the facts show. On the radio show, Bill Ballenger said that tests on his own blood had found no elevated levels of lead: This has been a vastly overblown crisis, perpetuated by a lot of politicians with an axe to grind and, for that matter, the news media, and some national figures, some political, some entertainers who don t know what they re talking about. I had my blood tested just yesterday, and I have no elevated blood-lead level   it s way down there. The idea that the entire population of Flint has been poisoned and that we all have elevated blood-levels because of this is just a total canard. It s just a crock, and for this to be perpetuated as a story is doing a lot of damage to Flint as a community. The evidence or lack of evidence cited in Ballenger s rant has given Patterson reason to doubt whether the children of Flint, who don t have any access to fresh drinking water, were contaminated despite the tests that were done. Patterson said that Ballenger was  adamant that he lives in Flint, he drinks the water, he showers in that water.  Ballenger even described the water crisis as a  hoax. Ballenger s evidence is at best anecdotal. Whether he drank Flint s water or not, it s children who are much more susceptible to lead poisoning than adults. Eden Wells, Michigan s chief medical executive, said that all children who drank the city s water since April of 2014 have been exposed to high levels of lead. That is at least 8,657 children. The long term effects of elevated blood levels can lead to many health complications: The long-term effects of elevated blood lead levels in children may include slow development, reduced Intelligence Quotient (IQ) scores, learning disabilities, hearing loss, reduced height and hyperactivity. Very severe lead exposure (blood lead levels greater than 80  g/dL) can cause coma, convulsions and even death. It boggles the mind that the Republicans would rather talk about ISIS or repealing Obamacare, while they dismiss an unfolding tragedy in an American city that s affecting thousands of American kids.Feature image via screengrab