Friends, one of the ongoing things with PhD study is research, gathering information for future use.
In many cases this also has to do with trying to deal with a marked sense of apathy, members of the public simply not caring one way or the other about matters affecting our lives.
Once in awhile, though, you run into someone like Fort Good Hope’s Harry Harris, who takes a personal interest in something important.
Knowing that I also write for News/North, he recently handed me some interesting information, in this case pointing to high rates of cancer.
I have written about this a number of times, partly because for our small Northern town we have had a lot more than our share of people being diagnosed and even dying of this terrible disease.
One issue comes from the community water treatment plant which opened in 1980 and even more troubling is around the same time, the Esso plant at Norman Wells – upriver from us – built five man-made islands to drill for more oil.
One thing people began noticing right away back then was the quality of the fish. The flesh, no longer firm, came out of the nets mushy and less tasty.
Middle-aged men developed rashes on their hands and faces and the first case of leukemia was reported. The number of deaths related to cancer increased every year, to a total of 12, in 2011 alone.
The grand total of our people dead, 31, would be normal for a population of 750,000, not the 750 now here.
Alarmingly, all of these involved an oral source, most certainly pointing to the water intake.
Harry Harris’ research mentions the high levels of heavy metals in the water and especially, mercury.
When the local Yamoga Land Corporations purchased two Reverse Osmosis Filtration Systems in 2012, cases of cancer immediately fell off – with no new cases – to a single one in 2013.
Harris’ findings may well point to water treatment not being available in a number of smaller Northern communities. One would also have to wonder why all of these, Fort Chipewyan, Fort Resolution, Liard, Behchoko and Wrigley, are all native. I’ve always mentioned more studies need to be done on the more likely source, the tar sands of Alberta.
One person, Dr. John O’Connor, who had a lot to do with specific cancers in Fort Chipewyan from high levels of heavy metals, lost his job because of his findings. He was eventually hired on by the American Obama Administration, to help avoid more problems because of planned pipelines.
Cases of stomach problems as far North as Aklavik should also be seriously looked into.
In any event, I am hoping more people like Harry Harris take a personal interest in our health.
Mahsi, thank you.