Study connects cancer to oilsands
Pollution in the oilsands has been linked to elevated cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan for the first time.
The effect on health in communities downstream of development is “clear and worrisome,” researcher Stephane McLachlan said Monday during a news conference in Edmonton. “Something unique is happening in Fort Chipewyan, especially around cancer.”
Conducted in collaboration with the Athabasca Chipewyan and Mikisew Cree First Nations, the University of Manitoba study found fish and animals consumed as part of a traditional diet contained unusually high concentrations of contaminants emitted during the extraction and upgrading of bitumen.
Twenty- three cases of cancer were reported among 94 people interviewed as part of the threeyear, $1-million study, partially paid for by Health Canada and peer-reviewed by its scientists.
“This report confirms what we have suspected about the association between the environmental contaminants from oilsands production and cancer and other illness in our community,” said Steve Courtoreille, chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation. “We are greatly alarmed and demand further research to expand on these findings. It is time government does something. Enough is enough.”
Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne said the province had not seen the report, but would review its findings. Samples taken from beavers, ducks, fish, moose and muskrats contained high concentrations of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and levels of arsenic, mercury, cadmium and selenium high enough to be of danger to young children.
For years, residents in Fort Chipewyan have asked government to look for potential links between industrial development and health issues. Statistics released in March by the Alberta Cancer Board confirmed clusters of rare bile duct cancer and cervical cancer in the community, 300 kilometres north of Fort McMurray.
Greg Stringham of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said one previous study failed to find a connection between the oilsands and elevated cancer rates, but welcomed the new data. “Industry is really supportive of any information that leads to the body of evidence,” Stringham said.
We are greatly alarmed and demand further research to expand on these findings. It is time government does something.