Is Health Canada trying to kill us?

There was an article in the Ottawa newspaper on Sept 12 stating that an Alberta MD was in Health Canada's (HC) bad books. Seems that the northern Alberta MD had noticed that there was a very high incidence of a rare form of cancer in the area around Fort Chipewyan, about 100 km downstream from Fort McMurray, the site of all the tar sands mining.

Dr. O'Connor recognized the cancer because his own father died of it in Ireland about 15 years ago and he raised an alert when he diagnosed it in 5 local patients.

So when Health Canada, whose mandate is to "help Canadians maintain and improve their health, while respecting individual choices and circumstances", heard of the alert... they made a complaint to the Alberta Medical Association and threatened Dr. O'Connor license to practice medicine. Why? Because according to HC, there is no risk of toxins and carcinogens spilling into the Athabaska River from the tar sands.

So rather than investigate the identified problem HC attacks the messenger. And what does Tony Clement, the Minister of Health, have to say? His office issued a press release commending HC for doing their job.

In the meantime, it seems that a new report was released only last week by an Alberta ecologist that seemingly contradicts HC. Kevin Timoney points to the "deformed fish with bulging eyes" as part of the evidence that the pollutants in the Athabaska River might be a problem. Since they cannot threaten the medical license of the non-doctor Timoney, maybe they will just send him to Guantanamo.

But this is not the first time that HC has protected the health of Canadians by ignoring evidence. A number of years ago, when lead was being eliminated from gasoline (because it was a health risk), a company from the US introduced a substance called MMT. MMT had a manganese base. MMT was introduced into gasoline as an anti-knock agent and octane raiser. The US, studying the effects of MMT decided to ban it. HC decided to ban it also. But in 1996 the manufacturer of MMT decided that the ban in Canada was contrary to the North America Free Trade Agreement. Health of Canadians be damned... the NAFTA was paramount.

"MMT does not pose a threat to either the environment or to human health and welfare," argued the company, which was being advised by Gordon Ritchie, a former top Canadian trade official who helped negotiate NAFTA. Canada was about to lose its sovereignty to NAFTA so it settled out of court with Ethyl Corp to the tune of multi-millions of dollars, so that there would be no judgment against it. But Ethyl Corp must have been right about MMT not being a problem because Grace Wood, senior evaluator in Health Canada's environmental health directorate and author of its MMT report, told us that; while manganese is known to be a "neurotoxic" linked to brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease, the level of manganese released by MMT in gasoline "is unlikely to pose a risk".

This was of course completely contrary to the science in the US that banned MMT and contrary to the physical fact that manganese in micro form can enter the human body through breathing and that manganese from vehicle exhausts can accumulate in the soil. HC also ignored the caution from Environment Canada that, while emissions from vehicles in pristine shape might not form a major risk, MMT can affect the functioning of a vehicle's exhaust system and result in the release of much higher concentrations of manganese into the air than pristine vehicles.

It took 10 more years for gasoline refiners in Canada to finally get rid of MMT, voluntarily. What does HC say today about manganese? There might be a slight problem with manganese, what with the rise in Parkinson's and AD/HD but, hey, we are just simple scientists. So what do we know?

Want to reduce taxes and protect your health? Get rid of, or at least reform, Health Canada.