What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City

The chief medical officer for Michigan and now the state’s point person for the Flint water crisis, Eden Wells, called Mona and told her that the state was going to relook at its data so that they could compare the state data with Mona’s data. Wells also told Mona she would try and have her request for the state’s raw data expedited. While Mona was happy to hear that the state was “thinking about science and methods” (277), she also wondered how much the Detroit Free Press story influenced Wells’s decision to reach out.

When the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests went through, something which Edwards initiated, and the agency emails were publicly released, Mona would find her suspicions partially confirmed. Prior to Wells calling Mona, her boss, Nick Lyon, at the state’s health department had sent an email “directing subordinates to prove” (278) Mona wrong. Lyon’s office had also found elevated blood-lead levels in Flint children several months back but had ignored the evidence and concluded the water was still safe. Rather than just pushing back, however, Eden had her researchers rerun the state’s numbers. Mona believes that “if it weren’t for Eden, the state’s denials could have continued months longer, maybe years” (279).