Mercury poisoning lingers decades after Ontario river deemed safe

**Nate** · #1 04-13-2010, 11:31 AM

Mercury poisoning lingers decades after Ontario river deemed safe

By Mike Barber, Canwest News Service

"As members of Ontario First Nations descended on Toronto Tuesday to mark the 40th anniversary of the confirmation of mercury poisoning in their communities, a Japanese study, released for the first time in English, said exposure to "safe" levels of mercury over a long period of time has led to dozens of cases of mercury poisoning in the two Ontario communities.

Members of the Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong First Nations, also called on the federal and provincial governments to re-examine what they say are clear cases of the disease, persisting decades after their rivers — which for centuries had been their prime source of food — were deemed safe.

The mercury poisoning dates back to 1970, when excessive levels of the toxin — as well as such symptoms as vision loss, chronic pain and tremors — were recorded in many residents of Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong, about 90 kilometres northeast of Kenora, Ont. Residents found to have the illness were compensated in the 1980s by the Mercury Disability Board, enacted by the federal and provincial governments, as well as by the pulp mill deemed responsible for dumping more than 9,000 kilograms of mercury into the Wabigoon River between 1962 and 1970.

But research performed in 2004 by Masazumi Harada, a scientist who helped uncover the first widely known instance of mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan, in the 1950s, suggested that many people born since the river was found to be safe are showing signs of the illness, and those whose symptoms were minor 40 years ago have worsened..."

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Mercury+poisoning+lingers+decades+after+Ontario+ri ver+deemed+safe/2772880/story.html#ixzz0kziy9IvI

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