these, but it is a complicated business of governing. thanks very much for this. that is our show for today. i'm alli velshi. thanks for joining us. the news is next [ ♪ ] thanks for joining us on america tonight. drop by drop, flint michigan, already awash in a flood of troubles. it now finds itself facing even more under heavy pressure. michigan governor has led to a

special panel to try to understand what led to the water crisis where it is clear the local water was poisoned by a number of toxins, including dangerous led. now the feds are looking for answers too. our correspondent first reported on these concerns here weeks ago, before flint's crisis made the headlines. >> they are not people that are disposable. we just are not. it is a crime for people to be serviced with water that is classified by the e.p.a. as toxic waste >> reporter: in this lady's house in flint michigan >> i have a filter here. this is one of the certified ones that filters out the led. >> reporter: cold water runs through a new filter, but the 52-year-old stroke survivor says she still won't drink it >> i have to depend on others'

family members and friends to take me places and help me to go and get bottled water. this is water that came out of the tap. look at this green at the bottom >> reporter: it was only a few months ago when she says she collected this from her unfiltered faucet. it came out brown >> reporter: at a time when state and city officials insisted that the water was okay to drink >> yeah. it's orangey when it settles all the way down. >> reporter: for more than a year now she and tens of thousands of flint residents, mostly minorities, and many low income, have been without certainty that their drinking water is safe. most recently hers tested positive for high amounts of led, a toxic element especially dangerous for children. >> go look at the other pumpkin. do you want the pumpkin back? >> reporter: her 12-year-old daughter is developmentally

delayed and has a heart condition. >> bring it back. >> reporter: when you hear led poisoning or led problems in the water, what did that mean to you and your family? >> it raises your anxiety level and it is really unknown. i feel like i'm numb because i'm still dealing with rebuilding from a water issue in my home in addition to my daughter being exposed to led. >> reporter: how much had she been drinking the water? >> i mean, it was almost a year before i got my own filter to put in there, so we were drinking the water and so we were ex-poached and we were cooking with the water. it's overwhelming. it's just something that every day you have to deal with. >> put it back up there. >> reporter: flint's water problem started when the city under the control of a

state-appointed emergency manager opted out of a long time agreement to get its water from the city of detroit. that move meant the city would save upwards of $3 million, but it also meant flint would no longer source its water from lake here and used the local flint river. >> three two one >> reporter: at the time officials celebrated the switch. soon after there were problems with the discolored water and eventually news of led. a year and a half later flint switched back to detroyed water >> the kindest thing you could possibly say is that they were completely incompetent, sloppy, lazy and uncaring. >> reporter: mark edwards is an environmental engineer who specialises in water treatment. his team has independently tested water samples at hundreds of homes throughout the city. >> when we first got the results, we just didn't believe

it. it was hazardous waste levels of led coming out of this person's tap. two and a half times hazardous waste levels of led in her water. >> reporter: it turns out the flint river water was so corrosive that it started to eat away at people's pipes causing led from some of those pipes to leach into the drinking water. what is it about the flint river that makes it so corrosive? >> there's high chlorine in it, but the salt level in the water will tend to eat up pipes, including led and iron pipes. that's what happened in flint >> reporter: even though the flint river is no longer being used as a water source, edward says people in flint are still at risk >> we know from history that this can cause death, it can cause miscarriages, it can cause elevated blood led, all kinds of

health effects. >> reporter: where are we now? is the water safe? >> it is going to be probably another month or two before we can say that it's meeting federal standards >> we have no idea the enormity of this exposure. so we are assuming that every child has been exposed. >> reporter: this doctor is the director of the paediatric program at the hospital in flint. she spent weeks analysing health data and confirmed the water switch caused a spike in the blood of children. >> we see it later. so in five years we will have more kids who need early intervention and in 10 years there's going to be more kids with an adhd diagnosis. in 15 to 20 years, there will be more kids with violent behaviour. we don't see the effects now; we see them later. >> reporter: now several flint schools only allow kids to drink

bottled water. >> it was jaw dropping to realise what had been going on. i think what made me physically mad was that it didn't have to happen, that it was preventible. >> i will check to see if the water is boiling. do you want to help me? >> yep. >> reporter: many flint residents like this woman worry about future health effects. she has a seven-year-old daughter and another child on the way. >> when this has been going on and no-one has been aware of it for a long time period of time, i think it would concern any parent because most of the damage that is caused from led is irreversible. >> reporter: amber is also concerned about her grand mother, 70-year-old amy penrose >> they found an n osh de on my kidney and my grand-daughter said you can get kidney problems

from drinking the led water, the water that's contaminated with led. >> you have all your different tips. >> reporter: the state is distributing free filters similar to this to help people like amber and amy. it's also providing free water testing to flint regulation dents and pledged $9 million to help mitigate the crisis. but for a finally troubled-- financially troubled city with nearly 42% living in poverty, the ongoing led crisis is a mounting burden >> we were already having trouble trying to purchase just food and now what little assistanceance i had from the state has to go completely towards water. in the meantime, our water bill, even though we're not using it, is like $120 a month. >> reporter: amber using food stamps to buy bottled water for cooking and drinking >> it frustrates me when you see

things on line and people who don't live in flint say things like, well, why don't you just move. i'm, like, it's not that easy. mobile phone of us don't have a choice. we financially cannot move. we're stuck here. there's nothing that we can do about it. >> reporter: sympathy says the people-- she says the people of flint deserves an explanation as to why the public's health has been at risk to so long >> you have a responsibility. when you take that office, you are there to protect me, you are there to protect my friends and family. there are no excuses that story comes to us from our correspondent who began her reporting on the flint crisis weeks ago. she is back in the city now investigating new concerns of how the poisoned water might also be a report on legionnaires

disease. we will have a report that soon. next up here, the zika virus. it's tiny carrier and what else might be putting us at risk. later here, america tonight's adam may follows up his in-depth look at a new movement.

what looks like another health crisis emerging in communities across the country. increasing reports that even the small sting of mosquitos can create an enduring legacy, a very serious illness, even death. health workers are struggle against the zika virus. there are many other nightmare diseasess travelling across our

borders. >> reporter: martin is on the move trying to coral killers roaming around houston. >> we will be there in around 15 minutes. >> reporter: this is what he is looking for. mosquitos. culprits behind a growing public health crisis. they're now testing positive for tropical diseases which are spreading across america. houston is now one of the world's top ten hot zones for tropical diseases. that's why he goes out every day checking some of the 268 mosquito traps. why are they enemy number one for you? >> because they are the ones that cause these illnesses >> reporter: they are serious >> yes. they are >> reporter: illnesses you are more like no associate elsewhere-- to seesht elsewhere but here. >> one of these neglected diseases are everywhere.

>> reporter: including 12 million americans nearly all undiagnosed. one of the world's leading experts in neglected diseases, neglected because there is so little research being done on them and no approved medicines or vaccines >> i thought when we started finding tropical diseases about a year after i moved here in houston and texas, i thought people will care about this issue. it was just the opposite. nobody cared. >> reporter: why? because most victims are poor. not exactly the ideal demographic for big pharma. he showed us why some poor areas in america are breeding grounds for necessity dplektd tropical diseases-- neglected. >> on the right-hand side are piles of discarded tours. >> reporter:-- tires. gentleman they're perceived as an immigrant problem

>> we have to get over this mentality that these are not diseases that are coming across the southern border. they're for the most part diseases having transmission here. >> reporter: case in point, this woman born and raised in texas. >> i did not live in a mud hut. i lived right here in texas. i grew up in a brick home. i don't live in poverty. i've never even been on a cruise, so i've never left and went to another country. >> reporter: yet? >> yet i have chagas. >> reporter: chagas is blood born and causes heart disease. it can go undetected for decades. two years ago she happened to learn she had it after donating blood. >> reporter: you know that you must have come into contact with some kind of so-called kissing bug >> that's right. that's right. >> reporter: sometimes a kiss isn't just a kiss >> no. it is not.

this is a deadly kiss >> reporter: typically found in latin america, kissing bugs are snasing. it is estimated 3,000 people in the country is infected by chagas. here they're studying the bugs as part of research into chagas >> it is huge. imagining that being on your face. it can either bite close to your lips. >> reporter: is that where it tries to go? is it trying to get to your lip? >> yes. it will go to your lip. that's why it's called a kissing bug. >> reporter: this man helped to establish the national school of tropical medicine, the only one of its kind in north america. with financial backing from non-profits, including the gates foundation, the doctor and his team are doing what big prarma isn't. >> reporter: what happens in here?

>> we're making vaccines. >> reporter: so far they have made six. they're still in the testing phase but showing promise. he warns the effects of these tropical diseases go beyond the physical, and a huge cost as well >> it costs poverties because they make people too sick to go to work >> reporter: most doctors don't screen for such deceases. many-- diseases. >> if chagas is going to affect my heart, i want to know. i don't want it just to sneak up on me and i die from a heart attack and not have plans for my children. i've already increased my life insurance because i don't know when it's going to happen. >> reporter: an innocent victim finally sounding the alarm so more unsuspecting people don't

die a surprising danger increasingly evident on our radar. next up here concerns about another challenge in our communities, faith, family and the quiver full. a follow-up report on a movement you might not know much about and the centers to its growth strategy.

following up on faith, the family and the quiver full movement. america tonight's adam may has been investigating it, something that has grown up in some christians. it is a way to grow their faith

which others see as a threat to their families >> our house felt like some prison where nobody was allowed to be actual humans. >> reporter: this woman is a well-known, some might say controversial name in the quiver full world, the follower of nancy campbell is now an outspoken opponent of the lifestyle she once faithfully live >> reporter: you sent your daughter to live with the campbells because you were such a blooifr why? >> because i believe with an opportunity for my daughter to serve the lord and serve this whole ideal by the fact that nancy campbell was doing god's work, that she was encouraging to women, she was promoting true biblical family values >> reporter: how do you look back at that now? now that you've sent your

daughter there? >> that was one of my biggest regrets. i had god central in my mind that i was willing not only to murder myself but-- martyr myself but make my children's also >> children are the fruit of the womb of his award >> reporter: she has been called the godmother of the lifestyle. she publishes a magazine promoting procreation, urging women to birth as many babies aas god grants >> not many people believe that today, but it is the bible and it's true because god is the one who created us. now getting back to the woman, we see there in psalm 127 that blessed is the fruit of the womb. well, a lot of women don't like

to hear that word "womb", today >> reporter: why? >> they've been brain washed to get out on their career and can't stay at home looking after some children. yet this is who they are, who god created them to be >> reporter: after the birth of her third child, vicki and her then husband, who is blind, decided their family was complete. she says running a household with a physically challenged spouse while also suffering from a painful bone condition herself was overwhelming. but then she was exposed to quiver full and her life took a turn >> then we got into home schooling. i started getting this idea that god designed women to give birth, to bear children. and that god loves big families. he wants you to trust him with that area. >> reporter: vicki's husband had

his vasectomy reversed. vicki eventually gave birth to four more children. >> i knew that i was putting my life at risk, but i was willing because i was so consumed with that mindset that god is all powerful, he is all knowing, he has the perfect plan for my life, and i just need to trust him for that. if that does involve dying, then heap has his reasons for that. >> reporter: did you begin to question give full? >> it took me a while. it's an exhausting lifestyle, but what really made me question was seeing how unhappy my children were. we had become so isolated. they had no friends, it was a very oppressive lifestyle. come and eat, andrew and lid i can't. -- liddya

>> reporter: we spoke with her children. 23-year-old said it ruined her life. >> you think it's good for your kids at the time, but you can't shelter them forever and once the world hits them, it is really bad for a while. it does mess with you. it's, like, me getting my real world. very scary and freaky. >> reporter: until a few years ago, vicki owned a christian newspaper that published from her home. when she turned against quiver full it was front page in the local newspaper. eventually she and her husband divorced and in 2009 she launched a blog called no longer quivering, which she described as a gathering place for women escaping and healing >> reporter: you call it spiritual abuse

>> the reason i call it spiritual abuse is because people have like this innate desire to connect with their creator or the universe. these leaders hone in on that and they exploit that feeling. >> reporter: what do you think leaders like nancy campbell are really trying to sell? >> i think she's sincere. i don't think she's trying to scam. i think that so many of the leaders in quiver full, they really buy it themselves first. >> reporter: is there a political motivation? >> it is very much a domionist movement. that verse where it says blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them, comparing children to arrows in god's army. having all of these children, these arrows in your quiver in order to increase your political pour, so it's-- power, so it's very much this idea that you're

going to take back america nor god and the way to do that is outabouts populating the men me. -- outpopulating the enemy. have many children and train them up to be leaders in all of the institutions, in government, in education, politics, entertainment. they want to institute christian order, biblical order into society. so that is really the goal of quiver full. >> reporter: what's the danger of it, though? >> it's soul crushing for individuals. you are not allowed to have feelings. the one approved feeling is joy, the joy of the lord, and that is joy, jesus first, others second, yourself last. we left out the u in quivering

and the tag like is there is no u in quivering because you're not allowed to consider yourself, your preferences, your likes or dislikes. it's like what does god want? that is all that matters. >> reporter: now, a few years after quitting quiver full, the family sees faith completely different. do you guys identify with any religion? do you see your christine, athiest? >> i'm agnostic. >> reporter: what does that mean to you? >> you don't believe in god, a god, any god, or gods. >> reporter: do you have a shadow of doubt that you made the right choice? >> i do not. >> reporter: what about inviting the devil? >> i'm having so much fun. i can be myself and relax. it's freeing >> reporter: are you still a

christian? >> i am actually athiest of the year. >> reporter: by who? >> i was at the american atheist convention and they named me. i have a plaque and everything. literally 12 years ago we were a family of the year named by nebraska family council. >> reporter: now you're ateist of the year-- atheist of the year >> all right. always the extremist, right correspondent adam may will continue his report on the quiver full movement. a full session will be shown here on america tonight. we will have more america tonight tomorrow.

>> we're just surviving. it's really hard. >> a new front. >> we're looking at military options. >> the pentagon stays steps to counter the -- takes steps to countser the growing i.s.i.l. front in libya. weapon of war, the syrian opposition threatens to boycott peace talks unless the government first stops using sieges and attacking civilians. >> the syrian people cannot wait any longer. >> as