{"id":9118,"date":"2015-06-15T06:13:21","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T11:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=9118"},"modified":"2015-06-15T06:13:21","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T11:13:21","slug":"mercury-levels-still-rising-near-grassy-narrows-first-nation-report-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=9118","title":{"rendered":"Mercury levels still rising near Grassy Narrows First Nation, report says"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"story-headline\">\n<h3 class=\"story-title\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/thunder-bay\/mercury-levels-still-rising-near-grassy-narrows-first-nation-report-says-1.3109261\" target=\"_blank\">Mercury levels still rising near Grassy Narrows First Nation, report says<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"story-deck\"><strong>50-year-old contamination that was never cleaned up still polluting water and fish, report says<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fifty years after a Dryden pulp mill dumped its effluent into a northern Ontario watershed,\u00a0mercury continues to rise in some lakes, according to a study commissioned by the provincial government and the Grassy Narrows First Nation.<\/p>\n<p>The report\u00a0released Monday\u00a0also reveals how little is known about the environmental and health consequences of the mercury that flowed freely into the English-Wabigoon\u00a0water system between 1962 and 1970.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/health\/grassy-narrows-why-is-japan-still-studying-the-mercury-poisoning-when-canada-isn-t-1.2752360\">Grassy Narrows: Why is Japan still studying the mercury poisoning when Canada isn&#8217;t?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/thunder-bay\/japanese-mercury-experts-push-canada-to-help-grassy-narrows-1.2750849\">Japanese mercury experts push Canada to help Grassy Narrows<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/archives\/entry\/grassy-narrows-still-ill\">CBC Digital Archives: Residents of Grassy Narrows still ill<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The research review of\u00a0human and ecological health in Grassy Narrows was conducted by fresh water scientist Patricia Sellers.\u00a0It takes a wide-ranging look at all published research into the contamination and\u00a0mercury poisoning of people at Grassy Narrows.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have bits and pieces, small amounts of data here and there throughout the years of the human health in Grassy Narrows and various\u00a0health issues and an assessment of initiatives to address those health issues,&#8221; Sellers said. &#8220;But there hasn&#8217;t been anything very comprehensive.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"figure\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i.cbc.ca\/1.1919189.1400703018!\/httpImage\/image.jpg_gen\/derivatives\/original_620\/hi-grassy-narrows-0169.jpg\" alt=\"hi-grassy-narrows_0169\" width=\"100%\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"figure-caption\">Fish remains a staple in the diet for the people of Grassy Narrows, despite the contamination. A new report says information about how much is safe to eat must be better communicated and supports put in place for people who can&#8217;t afford any other food. (CBC)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>People in Grassy Narrows continue to suffer the effects of mercury poisoning, exhibiting symptoms such as loss of motor function, tingling and weakness in limbs, difficulty speaking and swallowing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We know little about the effects of low-dose exposure [to mercury] over the long-term,&#8221; Sellers wrote in the report.<\/p>\n<p>Residents believe developmental delays and physical abnormalities in children are also related to the contamination, but Sellers says no studies have been conducted in Grassy Narrows on the effects of pre-natal exposure to mercury.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mercury levels still rising near Grassy Narrows First Nation, report says 50-year-old contamination that was never cleaned up still polluting water and fish, report says Fifty years after a Dryden pulp mill dumped its effluent into a northern Ontario watershed,\u00a0mercury continues to rise in some lakes, according to a study commissioned by the provincial government [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[103,3544,6384,6385,6382,395,6381,570,1378,638,6383,1215],"class_list":["post-9118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-canada","tag-cbc","tag-dryden","tag-english-wabigoon-watershed","tag-grassy-narrows","tag-health","tag-mercury","tag-news","tag-ontario","tag-pollution","tag-pulp-mill","tag-toxins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9119,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9118\/revisions\/9119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}