What About Flint's Pets? Owners Get Dogs Tested For Lead
FLINT (WWJ) -- All of the talk surrounding the Flint water crisis has been focused on what its effect on the city's citizens could be -- but what about their pets?
The discovery of lead in Flint's water system has the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine concerned for local dogs.
Dr. Daniel Langlois spoke to WWJ Newsradio 950 about a free screening for dogs that was held Saturday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Flint.
"A lot of pet owners are already doing bottled water and filtered water, which is great," Langlois said. "Hopefully they've been doing it long enough that it's allowed -- if there was a previous lead exposure -- some of that lead to be eliminated from the body, but we are still detecting high levels in some animals."
If dogs are exposed to lead issues with their gastrointestinal system can arise, including a decreased appetite, vomiting and diarrhea. Langlois said that around 70 dogs were tested at an event in February and most had well below recommended levels of lead.
"So far, we've been really encouraged in that that we haven't found a lot of toxicity," Langlois said. "We've had a lot of dogs that have had toxic levels of lead in their blood and we've had a few others that have had levels certainly indicative of exposure, but not to the degree that would cause any abnormalities."
High levels of lead were found in Flint's water supply after the city switched from Detroit water to the Flint River in 2014. Gov. Rick Snyder has received criticism for the emergency manager law that some say led to the man-made crisis.
Flint mayor Karen Weaver declared a state of emergency in December after new blood test results showed that 21 children and nine adults had elevated lead levels in their blood.
Newer test results showed that lead levels in the water are lower now than over the summer, before Flint switched back to Detroit's water supply in October 2015.