Virginia Tech water expert Marc Edwards charged Tuesday that a water nonprofit supported by actor Mark Ruffalo, who played the Hulk in the last two Avengers movies, created a “false alarm” that potentially jeopardized the health of Flint, Mich., residents.
“I spoke to this group and I said ‘do you realize if you scare people from taking baths, or showers, or washing their hands … people will get sick,'” said Edwards at a Tuesday press conference. He was joined by several scientists who presented their research showing that Flint water meets federal standards, contradicting claims by Ruffalo’s group, Water Defense.
Water Defense reported they used their proprietary “Waterbug” sponge to measure chemicals in the water, and said the test found dangerous chloroform, disinfection by-products (DBPs) and total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) in the city’s water supply. Edwards, whose research helped expose the Flint water crisis, previously dismissed the group’s research as pseudoscience, in a post on his website entitled “A-List Actor but F-List Scientist: Mark Ruffalo Brings Fear and Misinformation to Flint.”
The actor-turned-advocate previously said during a CNN interview that experts like Edwards cannot claim Flint water is safe as not enough studies have been done to “tell the people of Flint that it’s safe to bathe in that water because there are no standards.”
“I don’t think this group had any experience with water … they don’t have a science background,” Edwards said. Describing the independent researchers who had just presented at the press conference as some of the country’s leading experts, Edwards said “people who know what they are doing found no problem.”
“There’s no physical, chemical, or biological reason why chloroform, TTHMs, or disinfection byproducts in Flint would be worse than any other city, in fact in most cases it’s probably better,” said Edwards, who noted the Flint water system is now one of the most closely monitored in the country.
Water Defense did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.
