Ildrennkually drops by two levels. It impacts behavior leading to things like developmental delays and has lifealtering consequences. ticking chris downey had constructed the life hed always wanted, an architect with a good job. That whole exterior. Happily married and coaching his tenyearold sons Little League. But then something awful happened. He went blind, and that threatened to end his career. Is that different . Oh, yeah. Or did it . Im a kid again. Im relearning so much of architecture. It wasnt about what im missing in architecture, it was about what i had been missing in architecture. ticking you are not laid back when you play tennis. translated no. I think im a very intense person with a lot of energy. I live life and sports at maximum intensity. Tonight we will try to explain how rafa nadal, the most intense tennis player of his generation, can come from a place like this the sleepy, sunny island of mallorca. ticking sunny island of mallorca. ticking im lesley stahl. Im bill whitaker. Im anderson cooper. Im sharyn alfonsi. Im jon wertheim. Im scott pelley. Those stories, tonight, on 60 minutes. Those stories, tonight, on 60 minutes. ticking hey guys want to stack different pringles flavors to create new flavor combos . Here ill. Go first. Pizza, barbeque and jalapeno. The spicy barbecue pizza stack. Get him grandpa whats going on . Were trapped in a pringles commercial, they must have taken us in our sleep. Stack pringles flavors make new ones. But it comes from this lia small business. Small. One of thousands on ebay. Powered by millions of people. All working to get you exactly what you want. And thats no small thing. Thats everything. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident. Cut is that good . No you were talking about allstate and. I just. When i. Accident forgiveness from allstate. Click or call for a quote today. Alfonsi you may remember the pictures from the water crisis six years ago in flint, michigan hundreds of angry residents holding up bottles of rustcolored water, and demanding answers. Months of protests were waved off by officials who denied anything was wrong. The turning point came when a local pediatrician found conclusive proof that the children of flint were being exposed to high levels of lead in their water, and prompted the state to declare an emergency. Now, that same doctor is working to solve a mystery that still worries parents in flint what lasting damage did the water do to their kids . As we first reported in march, her initial findings were worse than she feared. But we begin with the legacy of flints water crisis. Once a week, hundreds of cars line up for bottled water at the Greater Holy Temple Church of god in flint. Sandra jones is in command. She is a pastors wife, with the voice of a fourstar general. Sandra jones take his number. Well find a way to deliver to him. Alfonsi jones keeps the cars moving, and the water coming. Each family is allowed four cases of water. On this day, they gave away 36,000 bottles. It just strikes me. Its been five years and youre still doing this. Jones five years. And and the thing about it is its not lightening up. I could see it if it was lightening up. But it isnt. Alfonsi it is not. The state stopped giving away bottled water two years ago, because it said the water is safe. Sandra jones relies on donations of water. Whats it been like . Larry marshall its been kind of hard. Alfonsi Larry Marshall was second in line. The widowed father of four got here at 5 00 a. M. Hes been waiting five hours for water. Marshall water should be a basic necessity that we shouldnt have to wait or stand in this is not a third world country. But were living like one. Alfonsi marshall, like many in flint, still refuses to drink tap water. And if they come to you, the city or the state, and they say, your Drinking Waters safe, are you going to believe them . Marshall no. They lie so much and we know they lie, and i when they say something, its like talking to the wind, you know. I dont believe nothing they say. None of the politicians. None of them. Alfonsi flint, once a prosperous hub of the American Auto industry, was nearly bankrupt back in 2014. Officials hoped to save money by switching the city water source from the great lakes to the flint river. Almost immediately, residents began noticing something wasnt right. The water was rustcolored, and many people had rashes. But michigans department of Environmental Quality and the city insisted the water in flint is safe. Later, a state investigation found those officials hid the fact that the river water was not treated with chemicals that would prevent the pipes from corroding. So for months, the water ate away at flints old pipes, releasing lead into residents tap water. Dr. Mona hannaatisha they were poisoned. I mean, they were poisoned by this water. They were all exposed to toxic water. Alfonsi dr. Mona hanna atisha is a pediatrician in flint who her patients call dr. Mona. How strong alfonsi dr. Mona is a bit of a superhero herself here, because she was the first to link the water to high levels of lead in the children of flint. Dr. Mona so within a few months of of being on this water, general motors, which was born in flint, and still has plants in flint, noticed that this water, our Drinking Water, was corroding their engine parts. Lets pause. Like, the drinking laughs water was corroding engine parts. So they were allowed to go back to great lakes water. Alfonsi didnt anybody at that point say, if its corroding an engine, maybe this shouldnt be going into our bodies, into our kids . Dr. Mona i mean, that should have been like fire alarm bells. Like, red flags. Alfonsi so what did it take before your it your eyes opened about this . Dr mona yeah. It it it was the word lead. Alfonsi because the word lead, when youre a physician or a pediatrician, signals what in your brain . Dr. Mona there is no safe level of lead. Were never supposed to expose a population or a child to lead. Because we cant do much about it. It is an irreversible neurotoxin. It attacks the core of what it means to be you, and impacts cognition how children think. Actually drops i. Q. Levels. It impacts behavior, leading to things like developmental delays, and it has these life altering consequences. Alfonsi in 2015, dr. Mona and a colleague started digging through blood test records of 1,700 flint children, including the kids she sees at the hurley childrens clinic. Ready . Alfonsi the nonprofit clinic serves most of flints kids. The city is 53 black, and has one of the highest poverty rates in the country. Dr. Mona so we looked at the childrens blood lead levels before the water switch. And we compared them to the childrens blood lead levels after the water switch. And in the areas where the water lead levels were the highest, in those parts of the city, we saw the greatest increase in childrens lead levels. Alfonsi armed with the first medical evidence that kids were being exposed to lead from the water, dr. Mona did something controversial she quickly held a press conference to share the blood test study before other doctors reviewed her work. Dr. Mona so, it was a bit of an academic nono. Kind of a form of academic disobedience. But i l alfonsi and you knew that . Dr. Mona i i knew that. But, like, but there was no choice there was no way i was going to wait to have this, this research vetted. Alfonsi two weeks later, michigan Governor Rick Snyder ordered the water switched back to the great lakes, and declared a state of emergency. Governor rick snyder i say tonight, as i have before, i am sorry and i will fix it. Alfonsi but the damage was done. Dr. Mona estimates 14,000 kids in flint under the age of six may have been exposed to lead in their water. Dr. Mona i never should have had to do the research that literally used the blood of our children as detectors of environmental contamination. Alfonsi three years after the crisis began, the percentage of third graders in flint who passed michigans standardized literacy test dropped from 41 to 10 . Kenyatta dotson im very concerned about my children. And not only my children, but im concerned about the children of flint. Alfonsi Kenyatta Dotson is still fearful of the water, even though the state is spending more than 300 million to fix the water system. The city promised to replace all 12,000 supply lines that may have been contaminated with lead by last fall. Now, they say the work wont be done until summer. Dotson says she and her daughters will continue to use bottled water for cooking and brushing their teeth. Dotson i need time to come back to a place where i feel whole again. Alfonsi you dont feel whole right now . Dotson oh, no. Alfonsi would this have happened in a rich, white suburb . Dotson maybe it wouldve happened in in a rich, white suburb. Would it have continued for as long as it has . I dont believe so. Alfonsi we found many parents in flint still bathe their Young Children with bottled water first warmed on the stove, then brought to the tub. Dr. Mona when im in clinic, almost every day, a mom asks me, is my kid going to be okay . So thats a numberone kind of anxiety and and concern right now. Alfonsi how do you answer that . Dr. Mona oh, i i sit down. I sometimes hold their hand. And i reassure my patients and their parents just as i would before the crisis to keep doing everything that youre supposed to be doing to promote your childrens development. The flint registry is now live. Alfonsi in january of 2019, she launched the flint registry, the First Comprehensive look at the thousands of kids exposed to lead in flint. The goal of the federal and statefunded program is to track the health of those kids and get them the help they need. So today is the final day of his assessment. Alfonsi the registry refers hundreds of kids to specialists who conduct eight hours of neuropsychological assessments of their behavior and development. Dr. Mona shared her preliminary findings with 60 minutes. Before the crisis, about 15 of the kids in flint required special education services. But of the 174 children who went through the extensive neuro exams, specialists determined that 80 will require help for a language, learning or intellectual disorder. What are you going to do . Dr. Mona so, theres not much we can do. So, theres no magic pill. Theres no antidote. Theres no cure. We cant take away this exposure. But incredible science has taught us that theres a lot we can do to promote the health and development of children, and thats exactly what were doing. Alfonsi through the registry, already 2,000 flint children who were exposed to lead have been connected to services such as speech and occupational therapy, which some may need for the rest of their lives. Dr. Mona but we also realized that our research, our science, this data and facts was also an underestimation of the exposure. Alfonsi why underestimated . Dr. Mona because we were looking at blood lead data done as part of these surveillance programs, which are done at the ages of one and two. Lead in water impacts a younger age group. It impacts the unborn. Alfonsi to determine that impact, dr. Mona turned to a novel technique developed by dr. Manish arora at new yorks mount sinai hospital. He examines baby teeth. Baby teeth begin to grow in utero. Dr. Manish arora and just like growth rings in trees, every day a tooth forms a ring. And anything that were exposed to in our diet, what we eat, what we breathe, what we drink gets trapped in those growth rings. Alfonsi a laser cuts through the tooth to analyze whether lead is embedded in the growth rings of teeth. Dr. Mona has sent teeth from 49 flint kids to be analyzed. This was a scan on the tooth of a child who was six months old when the water source switched in flint. Dr. Arora as we hit that sixmonth mark where the alfonsi oh, my gosh dr. Arora water, the water supply was changed. You can see how alfonsi look at that. Dr. Arora you can see how the lead levels go up, and then they just keep keep going up as more and more leads entering the body. Alfonsi it shoots straight up. Dr. Arora exactly. Alfonsi wow. For the first time, researchers can pinpoint to the day even before birth when a child was exposed to lead from the water, and at what levels. Those early years are a critical time for brain development. Dr. Mona youre taking giant steps alfonsi as we were following dr. Monas work in flint, another American City was forced to hand out cases of water. Testing on the Drinking Water leve four times higher than lead the federal limit. In some places, higher than flint. Newark officials were warned about its water more than two years ago. Dr. Mona newark, new jersey is like living flint all over again. If we cannot guarantee that all kids g have access to safe Drinking Water, not just privileged kids, but all kids have access to safe Drinking Water. Thats just one issue. Like, who are we . Alfonsi this is not isolated to flint dr. Mona this is this is an everywhere story. This is an america story. Alfonsi we made another visit to flint to check in with sandra jones. Jones lets move them out. Yall are moving too slow. She was still in command despite temperatures in the single digits. Hundreds in flint are still coming to her Church Parking lot for their weekly supply of water, more than five years after the crisis began. ticking as is necessary to achieve our goals. Can match the power of energizer. Because energizer ultimate lithium is the longest lasting aa battery in the world. [confetti cannon popping] energizer. Backed by science. Matched by no one. Right now, there are over a million Walmart Associates doing their best to keep our nation going. Because despite everything thats changed, one thing hasnt and thats our devotion to you and our communities. Our priority will always be to keep you and our associates safe, while making sure you can still get the essentials you need. An extra 15 percent credit on car and motorcycle policies . Ok . Thats 15 percent on top of what geico could already save you. So what are you waiting for . Dj khaled to be your motivational coach . Yo devin remember to brush in a circle motion. Thank you. Dj. Khaled. Tiny circles, devin. Do another one. Another one. Is this good . Put in that work, devin. Dont give up. Geico. Save an extra 15 when you switch by october 7th. And ask your doctor about biktarvy. Biktarvy is a complete, onepill, onceaday treatment used for hiv in certain adults. Its not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights hiv to help you get to and stay undetectable. Thats when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. Research shows people who take hiv treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit hiv through sex. Serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. Rare, lifethreatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. Do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. Tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. If you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy withoud adache. If youre living with hiv, keep loving who you are. And ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. Stahl at age 45, chris downey had pretty much constructed the life hed always wanted. An architect with a good job at a small housing firm outside san francisco, he was happily married, with a tenyearold son. He was an assistant Little League coach and avid cyclist. And then doctors discovered a tumor in his brain. He had surgery, and the tumor was safely gone. But downey was left completely blind. As we first reported in 2019, what he has done in the decade since losing his sight as a person, and as an architect can only be described as a different kind of vision. Several mornings a week, as the sun rises over the oakland estuary in california, an amateur rowing team works the water. Its hard to tell which one of them is blind. And chris downey thinks thats just fine. Chris downey its really exciting to be in a sport where nobody looks in the direction theyre going. You face this way in the boat, and youre going that way. So, okay, evensteven. We were just talking about that whole exterior. Stahl its not exactly evensteven in this design meeting, where downey is collaborating with sighted architects on a new hospital building. Chris downey under the canopy, where you could have down lights. Stahl . But he hasnt let that stop him. Here you are, in a profession that basically requires you to read read designs and draw designs. You mustve thought in your head, that is insurmountable . Chris downey no. I never thought stahl you never thought you never thought the word insurmountable chris downey lots of people, friends that were architects and anybody else would say, oh my god, its the worst thing imaginable, to be an architect and to lose your sight. I cant imagine anything worse. But i quickly came to realize that the Creative Process is an intellectual process. Its how you think. So i just needed new tools. Stahl new tools . Downey found a printer that could emboss architectural drawings so that he could read and understand through touch. E normal prints, normal drawings, on the computer. But then they just come out in tactile form. Stahl so it is like braille, isnt it . Chris downey right. Stahl and he came up with a way to sketch his ideas onto the plans using a simple childrens toy malleable wax sticks that he shapes to show his modifications to others. And he says something surprising started to happen. He could no longer see buildings and spaces, but he began hearing them. Chris downey the sounds, the textures. And the sound changes because theres a canopy overhead. Stahl you can sense that were under a canopy . Chris downey yes. Its all a matter of how the sound works, from the tip of the cane. I was fascinated walking through buildings that i knew sighted, but i was experiencing them in a different way. I was hearing the architecture, i was feeling the space. Stahl it sounds as if you began almost enjoying, in a way, being the blind architect. Chris downey it was sort of this this excitement of, im a kid again. Im im relearning so much of architecture. It wasnt about what im missing s about what i had beenhat it missing in architecture. Is that sufficiently different . Chris downey oh, yeah. laughter stahl chris downeys upbeat attitude doesnt mean that he didnt go through one of the most frightening experiences imaginable, and struggle. He and his wife rosa were living in this same home with their son renzo, then ten, when downey first noticed a probl