| Community Comittee
on the Sudbury Soils Study /
Comité communautaire de l’étude des sols de Sudbury |
|
November, 2009
The Community Committee on the Sudbury Soils Study came together in the summer of 2008 as a result of public concerns with findings of the Sudbury Soil Study and the Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessments, which followed in the spring of 2009. Despite the $15 million Sudbury Soil Study process, there are significant data gaps in terms of the extent and effects of mine and smelter activity on our health, the environment we live in, and on local wildlife habitat.
The Sudbury Soils Study is now over but
the Community Committee has many concerns. Therefore the Committee will
continue to work towards healthy homes and a healthy environment for our
children and grandchildren, and the choice for all citizens to make knowledgeable
decisions about their health and community.
Concern 1) Although many properties have been identified as having highly contaminated soil, neighbours’ homes have not been tested. Families may not fully understand the risks they and their children are facing due to historic accumulation of lead, heavy metals or arsenic in their homes and/or soil. Children may be at risk due to high lead levels in may unidentified homes.
Goal 1) Reach out to homeowners in highly
contaminated areas of Sudbury to ensure that threats to the health of current
and future generations from toxins generated by mining activity are properly
identified and remediated or, where they cannot be cleaned, contained.
Concern 2) The Sudbury and District Health Unit reports that cancer rates in our District are 442.3 per 100,000, as opposed to 400 per 100,000 in all of Ontario. We exceed provincial rates for prostate, lung, colorectal, lymphoma, cervical, kidney and pancreatic cancer. A Statistics Canada report found that, in 2000, Greater Sudbury had the lowest life expectancy for all metropolitan areas in Canada, at 76.7 years. Studies taking into account the synergistic effects of heavy metal intake from soil, air, water and occupational exposure have not been thoroughly carried out.
Goal 2) The Committee is aware that
Cancer Care Ontario will be embarking on a 15-year longitudinal research
project to study the effects of environmental contaminants on human health.
Sudbury has been selected as one of three pilot locations for this massive
health study. The Committee will work with Cancer Care Ontario to ensure
that the research strengthens its focus on the links between the presence
of metals in the air, soil, and water, and their impact on human health.
The Committee will also work with CCO to ensure that they study occupational
risks to workers due exposure to contaminants from mining activity.
Concern 3) As a result of the Environment Risk Assessment Report, the Biodiversity Action Plan has been created to plant trees and stimulate biodiversity. Currently, Vale and Xstrata have committed themselves to $2.25 million over 5 years, toward this Plan, which is approximately 5% of the total cost of the program. Companies have an obligation to remediate the communities that their mining operations have contaminated. This token contribution places the real burden of remediation on the City and the taxpayers and on the many thousands of community volunteers who will be planting trees. This is unacceptable. The Ontario Government must protect its citizens and demand that Vale Inco and Xstrata take full responsibility for any remediation efforts.
Goal 3) The Committee will continue
to advocate that the mining companies fulfill their obligations to remediate
the environment that was degraded by their operations.
Concern 4) Adequate sampling and study of natural wildlife in the contaminated region has not been done.
Goal 4) Advocate for better ecological
studies.
Concern 5) Vale Inco is asking the Ministry of the Environment for an exemption from the nickel air standard. Levels of nickel in air are higher now than recommended exposure limits for cancer in three communities in Sudbury.
Goal 5) Convince the Ministry that Vale
Inco must comply with the new air standard
Membership
The members of the Committee sit as individuals and/or representatives, and are added by invitation of the Committee. Committee members are from a variety of backgrounds and include individuals from the unions, pensioners’ organizations, the university and community college, from health care and the environmental community.
The Committee has a Steering Committee,
consisting of Rick Grylls, retired, Past President Local 598 CAW, Homer
Seguin, retired, United Steelworkers, Monique Beaudoin, Health Promoter,
Centre de Sante Communautaire, and Joan Kuyek, retired, formerly of MiningWatch
Canada.