Nova Scotia’s Medical Officer Refutes May’s Column
Letter by Dr. Maureen Baikie - NS Assoc. Prov. Medical Officer of Health
The Hill Times
Monday, April 12, 2004
As lead author of the
study described in Elizabeth
May’s article ("Tar
Ponds and mud-slinging,"
The Hill Times, March
15), I want to respond to
her statement that 15
Sydney residents,"mostly
toddlers under six, had
elevated levels of lead or
arsenic."
This study was
designed by a team of
professionals that included
public health nurses,
specialist doctors, medical
officers of health, a
toxicologist, and an epidemiologist.
We tested
Sydney’s most vulnerable
receptors, young children
and pregnant women.
The lead results were
unequivocal. Not a single
child or pregnant woman
had blood lead levels
above the internationally accepted
standard of 10 ug/dL.
The arsenic results
were more complicated,
and harder to summarize.
We used a two-stage procedure.
An initial, first
void urine sample, which
tends to concentrate
arsenic, identified individuals
for follow-up testing
with 24-hour urine
samples.
Of 179 children
under five tested, seven
required the more definitive
follow-up test. Only
two children (and no
adults) receiving the
more definitive test had
urinary arsenic above 20
ug/L. This level is not
associated with health
effects, but was set as
part of a cautious
approach to trigger further
assessment.
A specialist
physician gave
these children detailed
medical assessments and
found no arsenic related
health effects.
These reassuring
results are broadly comparable
to similar testing
in other Canadian, U.S.,
and European communities.
They do not support
claims that environmental
sources of lead or
arsenic are putting Sydney
children at risk.
Your readers can view
the entire study by going
to the
Nova Scotia
Department of Health web site and clicking on "reports."
Dr. Maureen Baikie
Associate Provincial Medical Officer of Health
Nova Scotia Department of Health
Halifax, N.S.
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