The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A drastic drop in lead levels among children has reaffirmed the finding that industrial-borne metals pose virtually no health risk to Flin Flon area residents. The reassuring news came Tuesday with the release of the final portion of the Flin Flon Soils Study, which tested lead levels in the blood of over 100 local kids last fall. 'You can never say there's zero risk, but it's essentially zero,' said Elliot Sigal, a scientist with Intrinsik Environmental Sciences, the company that compiled the study. An initial version of the study also found that toxic metals in the environment _ the result of years of pollution from Hudbay's now-defunct copper smelter _ pose a negligible to low health risk. But based on blood lead levels detected in area children in 2009, follow-up testing was recommended. It's not that the 2009 levels exceeded formal health guidelines, though 15 per cent of participants had levels viewed as 'elevated' based on the precautionary baseline used in the study. It's just that the levels were what Sigal called 'a little bit higher than we would have liked.' The follow-up blood tests, undertaken in the fall of 2012, showed a dramatic decline of lead across geographical, age and gender categories. A total of 118 children, ranging in age from less than one year to six years, were tested. On the whole, blood lead levels were about half of what they were in 2009. The decline followed industrial and community efforts to limit lead exposure, but Sigal said the biggest development was the June 2010 closure of the copper smelter, which had been Canada's single largest emitter of the heavy metal. 'Air emissions basically went to zero,' he said. Sigal said the 2012 blood lead levels are, on average, 'marginally higher' than those found in non-industrial communities but well below health guidelines. 'They're very similar to what you would find in communities across Canada and the U.S.,' he said. Below level Sigal said the blood lead levels fall below the level at which the U.S. Centre for Disease Control recommends action to limit exposure, 'so I think we can take some assurances in that.' There is no way to definitively know why the blood lead levels remain slightly higher than average, but Sigal said the smelter's legacy could be one reason. Last year's blood lead levels in children living in the uptown area, or nearby, were higher than those living in other parts of Flin Flon as well as all of Creighton. Again there is a potential link to the smelter, which operated near the uptown area. But since uptown is also the oldest part of Flin Flon, its homes are more likely to have lead paint, a proven factor behind heightened lead levels. See 'Data' on pg. Continued from pg. The release of this latest data marks the culmination of nearly six years of research to determine whether smelter-borne metals represent a health risk. The latest portion of the study was outlined at an open house held Tuesday evening at the City Hall Council Chambers, with Sigal and other officials on hand to answer questions. The Flin Flon Soils Study was commissioned by Hudbay in 2007 following the release of a provincial study that measured 33 heavy metals and other elements in area soil. In some Flin Flon locations, concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, selenium and thallium were above the recommended soil quality guidelines for the protection of human health. Across the border in Creighton, some sites displayed concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury that exceeded the soil quality guidelines. Sigal and his crew from Intrinsik expanded on the provincial study, sampling not just soil but also air, dust from homes, blueberries, fish, water and snow. Their initial research focused on the environmental content of copper, cadmium, selenium, arsenic, mercury and lead. Copper, cadmium and selenium were soon ruled out as concerns. Further research showed arsenic and mercury levels were not being impacted by unnatural factors, so that left lead as the only concern. After Intrinsik's initial study was unveiled in 2010, complete with recommendations to limit heavy-metal exposure, Hudbay pledged to do what it could to make a difference. The company has restricted dust from its property, including the tailings pond, and funded a public awareness campaign, centred around a superhero named Mighty Bubble, to urge kids to regularly and properly wash their hands. A further campaign distributed free lead-paint test kits so residents could determine whether the toxic paint, not sold since the late 1970s, is in their home. By now the copper smelter had coincidentally closed, the result of economics and the forthcoming arrival of tighter federal pollution rules. While the 2010 study involved data from the era of the copper smelter, it did not speak to potential health risks that existed in previous years and decades when the pollution was more severe. Though Hudbay funded Intrinsik's research, Sigal said the process had complete independence and proper oversight. 'There are a number of factors to ensure that the study was done with the utmost of scientific integrity and independence,' he said, going through a list of independent peer and ethics reviews undertaken. On top of those reviews, the study was conducted under the guidance of two committees that included area residents and government regulators. 'I think people can take assurances that there were a lot of checks and balances to the independence of the research that was done,' said Sigal. Although there is no medical concern with the latest blood lead levels, Sigal is recommending that existing initiatives to lower lead exposure continue. Hudbay, for instance, has pledged to carry on its dust-control measures, and the Mighty Bubble handwashing campaign will live on. Sigal said he would suggest these measures even if the 2012 blood lead results hadn't been slightly above-average but, again, not worrisome. 'I think it's just good for a community to do these things and to continue to push lead (levels) down,' he said. Complete copies of the studies and related documents are available for download at Flinflonsoilsstudy. com.
