Season 2, Episode 2: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha

July 22, 2021

You no doubt have heard about the Flint water crisis and the poisoning of children in this majority Black city. But did you know that an Iraqi-American immigrant pediatrician discovered the Flint water crisis and boldly took on powerful government forces responsible for poisoning her city? This week on the Mother Earth Podcast we sit down with Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha to hear the back story on the Flint water crisis, her own remarkable life journey and how we can all stay safe from old lead pipes and not-so-old fixtures with lead that are still found in many cities and homes across the country.

When Dr. Mona discovered the possibility of lead contamination in Flint’s water supply in 2015, she gathered key data demonstrating that children were being poisoned and went public with her findings. She was ridiculed and called hysterical. But like her hero, the pioneering public health expert Dr. Alice Hamilton, who fought against adding lead to gasoline a hundred years ago, she stood strong against those who attacked her work. She and others in Flint organized, protested and demanded action. Government officials eventually admitted that the water problem was real and yielded to the pressures of grassroots' demands, a glaring national and international media spotlight and environmental lawsuits. Our conversation with Dr. Mona covers all this and much more, including her family’s flight from Saddam Hussein’s brutal dictatorship and being welcomed as Arab immigrants in the United States.

Dr. Mona is the founder and director of the Michigan State University and Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative. She has testified four times before the United States Congress, is a recipient of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People award, was awarded the Freedom of Expression Courage Award by PEN America, has been recognized as one of USA Today’s Women of the Century and, most recently, received the 2020 CDC Foundation’s Fries Prize for Improving Health. Dr. Hanna-Attisha is the author of the bestselling book What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City.

Join us around our virtual campfire this week for an inspirational story of an unlikely environmental hero.

““This story isn’t just about this crazy thing that happened in Flint. It’s about efforts that are happening right now, all over the place to corrode democracy and to take away people’s power and voice.”
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— Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha