The Canadian Press

Residents of N. Ont. reserve still sickened by mercury, says Earthroots

By The Canadian Press

TORONTO – An international expert says the health effects of mercury poisoning on a First Nation reserve in northwestern Ontario are worse now than in the 1970s.

The environmental group Earthroots says between 1962 and 1970 a paper mill in Dryden dumped 20,000 pounds of mercury into the Wabigoon River.

Japanese mercury expert Dr. Masazumi Harada first visited the Grassy Narrows reserve in 1975 and found people with mercury levels over three times the Health Canada limit.

Earthroots says when Harada returned in 2004 he found that everyone who had mercury levels above the 1975 Health Canada guidelines had died.

Moreover, says the group, of people who had levels below the federal guidelines in 1975, 89 per cent were diagnosed with Minamata Disease (mercury poisoning), or possible Minamata Disease in 2004, even though mercury levels were lower than before.

Health Canada stopped testing for mercury in Grassy Narrows residents claiming that it was no longer a problem because mercury levels have fallen below its safety guideline.

The group says Dr. Harada's study results indicate that even exposure under the safety guideline, if prolonged, can cause mercury poisoning.

Earthroots and the group Free Grassy Narrows are demanding governments acknowledge the mercury poisoning and strengthen federal mercury safety guidelines.

They are also calling for permanent monitoring through an environmental centre in the community.

The release of Harada's study coincides with the 40th anniversary of a fishing ban on the Wabigoon River due to mercury contamination by the Dryden paper mill upstream.

"Ontario plans to export clean water technology while native communities continue to suffer from the contamination of their rivers, lakes, and water sources," said David Sone of Earthroots.

"There is a two-tier system here where industry gets subsidies while sick people in Grassy Narrows wait 40 years for justice that has yet to come."

A protest was planned Wednesday outside the Ontario legislature.