McGuinty to review mercury report before acting

Published: April 6, 2010

By: CTV News

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — A study released Tuesday suggests the health effects of mercury poisoning at a First Nations reserve in northwestern Ontario are worse now than in the 1970s.

But while some environmental groups are calling for tighter guidelines, Premier Dalton McGuinty said he wants to take a good look at the report before deciding whether to act.

McGuinty, asked about the study while attending an event Tuesday in Peterborough, said he wanted to wait to read the report before making any decisions.

"It seems that we have conflicting data and information," McGuinty said.

"We have a report, apparently, which says we have a continuing problem, and this contrasts with the federal government saying that things are under control."

The report comes via the group Earthroots, which said that between 1962 and 1970, a paper mill in Dryden dumped the equivalent of about 9,000 kilograms of mercury into the Wabigoon River.

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

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

The group added that among the 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 said Harada's study results indicate that even exposure under the safety guidelines can cause mercury poisoning if prolonged.

Earthroots and the group Free Grassy Narrows have demanded that governments acknowledge the mercury poisoning and strengthen federal mercury safety guidelines.

The groups also want permanent monitoring through an environmental centre in the community.

"I guess the good news is that we are now smart enough as a society to no longer poison our lakes and our streams and our rivers in the way that we did in the 1960s and 1970s, so we put a stop to that," McGuinty said.

"The problem is the lingering toxic effects of mercury in our water system. It's ending up in the fish and the community is eating the fish."

"What we do have is a heavy responsibility to take a good, long, hard look at this new report and find out exactly what the story is," the premier said.

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.