Fort Chipewyan Cancer Rates Higher Than Expected: Report

Note/Background: Fort Chip is located in northeastern Alberta, Canada. It is mostly an aboriginal community that lies on the shore of Lake Athabasca. Uranium mining, gold mining and oil drilling has contaminated the water sources between Fort McMurray and Fort Chip for years. The tailing ponds have been knowingly leaking and sending toxic recipes into the waterways both surface and subsurface. There have been times that notices have been sent out about warnings about the fish and wildlife source being less than healthy and that the residents should not be eating animals from certain areas.

Over the last several years the Aboriginal leaders in Fort Chipewyan have been raising the issue of the number of their family members that seemed to be contracting cancer. The death toll to cancer appeared to be higher based on what they knew and the forms of cancer were rare. In 2002/03 Dr. John O’Connor of Fort Chip began speaking out about the issues related to the patients he was working with. He was later put before a great deal of professional challenges by the Alberta Government for raising the alarm on the issue and the Alberta Government insisted that these allegations were unfounded. The Aboriginal people of Fort Chip were forced to do some of their own studies relating to the water and the fish to try and make the government take the allegations seriously. They found higher levels of various toxins in the fish, water and soil than previously reported by the government.

The government is still advertising "jobs galore" in the Fort Chip area even though only 915 people live there permanently and it is very difficult to reach by land or water. Most of the jobs are in mining and oil. The government is also downplaying the degree to which the mining-related carcinogenic elements are impacting the higher than expected cancer rates. Sound familiar? (The background information re: Fort Chipewyan is from Metis Bare Facts blog, http://metisbarefacts.blogspot.com/)

Friday, February 6, 2009

The number of cancer cases in Fort Chipewyan is higher than expected, according to a report from Alberta Health Services released Friday.

Fifty-one cancers in 47 people were found in the remote community, 300km north of Fort McMurray, between 1995 and 2006, a dozen more than the 39 cancers that were expected, and the incidences of some cancers warrant more followup, the report said.

"The increased number of cases of biliary tract cancers, cancers in the blood and lymphatic system and cancers of unknown primary seen in the most recent six years (2001-2006) compared to the years 1995-2000 of the investigation warrant closer monitoring of cancer occurrences in Fort Chipewyan in the coming years," the report says.

"Further investigation is required to evaluate if there is a risk posed by living in Fort Chipewyan. This would be done by tracking a cohort of residents who have lived in the area within the past 20 to 30 years."

The increases are based on a very small number of cases, and could be due to chance or increased detection, the report says.

However, the possibility the increase is due to an increased risk in the community "cannot be ruled out," the report says, and it recommends analyzing other risk factors such as lifestyle, family history and occupational and environmental exposures.

Community leaders feel vindicated by the report, George Poitras of the Mikisew Cree First Nation in Fort Chipewyan said Friday.

"It's about time that we're getting these results confirming what we've been saying all along," he said. "But at the same time, it's kind of upsetting. Nobody wants to know our community is afflicted with cancer because we don't know who's going to be impacted next."

In 2006, Dr. John O'Connor, the physician in Fort Chipewyan, reported six suspected cases of cholangiocarcinomas, a rare form of bile duct cancer.

Of those six cases, two were confirmed in the study. Three more cases were other forms of cancer, and another case was not cancer.

The report found that the observed number of cholangiocarcinomas were "within the expected range" and there were lower than expected rates in some other types of cancer.

Study reviewed by independent experts

"We would all like … to get a black and white answer, something that's clear cut," Dr. Tony Fields, vice-president of the Cancer Corridor of Alberta Health Services, said at a news conference in Edmonton on Friday. "But we typically find ourselves in shades of grey."

The study, which was conducted by Dr. Yiqun Chen, was reviewed by independent experts from Australia, New Zealand and the United States, as well as two Canadian Aboriginal researchers. One of those researchers was recommended by the Nunee Health Board Society in Fort Chipewyan.

The review by the Alberta Health Services came after years of lobbying by health officials and community members in Fort Chipewyan.

Local people believe the oilsands developments located upstream from their community have caused higher-than-normal cancer rates in the community.

However, the methods used by the study also attracted controversy.

In November, community members rejected the findings of the study before they were released, because they felt researchers didn't spend enough time talking to people who live in Fort Chipewyan.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/02/06/edm-fort-chip-cancer.html