These data were presented to the follow-up advisory committee for the biomonitoring study. This study revealed that adults and children in the Notre-Dame district are overexposed to arsenic, a carcinogenic substance.
Population health monitoring data show that the percentage of low birth weight births was 7.6% in Rouyn-Noranda between 2015 and 2019, while the provincial average is 6.0%.
We also learn that from 2015-2016 to 2019-2020, the percentage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was between 13.5% and 14.6% in Rouyn-Noranda while it was 9.2% during the same period in Quebec.
Regional public health specifies that these data are not used to demonstrate or confirm a cause and effect link between a specific exposure and a state of health.
The fact remains that, as arsenic is considered a carcinogen, particularly for lung cancer, many people wonder if there is a link with the activities of the Horne Foundry.
Are atmospheric emissions partly responsible?
We submitted the 2019 biomonitoring study and surveillance data on the health status of the Rouyn-Noranda population to two environmental health experts. Johanne Elsener, member of the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment and Maryse Bouchard, professor of environmental health at the School of Public Health at the University of Montreal and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Contaminants and the health of the population.
First, note that cigarettes are the main cause of lung cancer, the smoking rate is similar between Rouyn-Noranda (20%) and the provincial average (19%). So the difference is quite minor.
For Johanne Elsener, it is clear that the air quality in Rouyn-Noranda could play a role in the development of lung cancer.
She cites the example of the lung cancer index, which is higher.
<q data-attributes="{"lang":{"value":"fr","label":"Français"},"value":{"html":"Il y a un excès de risque de cancer du poumon qui est à 5,5 cas sur 10000 inhabitants. A negligible risk is no more than one cancer per million people, here we have 5.5 cancers per 10000, so if we make a rule of 3, it’s 550 cases of cancer per 1 million inhabitants, so we are much higher than what is called the negligible risk that we should seek to achieve, so c ‘is extremely worrying”,”text”:”There is an excess risk of lung cancer which is 5.5 cases per 10,000 inhabitants. A negligible risk is no more than one cancer per million people, there we have 5.5 cancers per 10,000, so if we make a rule of 3, it’s 550 cases of cancer per 1 million inhabitants , so we’re much higher than what’s called negligible risk that we should be looking to achieve, so that’s extremely concerning”}}”>There is an excess risk of lung cancer which is 5.5 cases per 10,000 inhabitants. A negligible risk. It’s no more than one cancer per million people, there we have 5.5 cancers per 10,000, so if we make a rule of 3, it’s 550 cases of cancer per 1 million inhabitants, so we’re much higher than what’s called negligible risk that we should be aiming for, so that’s extremely concerningshe explains.
The incidence of lung cancer is 140 per 100,000 people in Rouyn-Noranda between 2013 and 2017, while the provincial average is 107.7.
Johanne Elsener specifies that the fact that there are several metals in the air, including arsenic and nickel, is even more worrying.
There can be additive effects of these carcinogens, i.e. when taken in isolation they have some potency, but when mixed in the air and administered in a cocktail , it really makes a toxic cocktail and it increases the pathological impacts of these pollutants
she illustrates.
The two women ensure that it is impossible to affirm that a cancer will have been caused for example by the emissions of the Horne Foundry or the quality of the air.
These are effects that can affect different biological systems. The effects can affect the brain, the heart system, it can cause diabetes, it can contribute to the development of cancer, but these are not specific effects, there are other risk factors for all these diseases or health conditions, so it’s hard to separate things out. What is due to metal contamination and what is due to all other risk factors
explains Maryse Bouchard.
For Johanne Elsener, however, it is clear that air pollution has an impact on the health of some people in Rouyn-Noranda.
One may be able to think that these too high levels [d’arsenic] can cause lung cancer in part of the population. What proportion of lung cancers is caused by arsenic, for example, cannot be said. Cancer is a disease which is multifactorial, so to go and identify in a person which factor was predominant, it is extremely difficult to say, but since we have very high levels of substances capable of cause lung cancer and that in the city of Rouyn-Noranda, there is a higher incidence of lung cancer than in the rest of Quebec, we can hypothesize that some of these lung cancers are caused by pollution from the Horne Smelter
believes Ms. Elsener, who believes that we must intervene quickly.
Johanne Elsener, member of the Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment.
Photo : Radio-Canada
« We have to solve this problem. We cannot sacrifice lives, sacrifice qualities of life for private profit, because the Horne Foundry is a private company which recently distributed $4 billion in dividends to its shareholders in February, so it is a company that has the means to invest in the prevention of these emissions. »
We are able to document that the population is exposed above the standards, of what is acceptable and as for me, from there, on the basis of these data, it should be enough for us to act, that we want to reduce exposure and protect the health of this population. It is necessary to act as long as to me, the data is clear
adds Maryse Bouchard.
Public health wishes to continue the research work
The Public Health Department of Abitibi-Témiscamingue claims to have presented its data since they were requested by several people in the population.
The interim director, Dr. Stéphane Trépanier, believes that the data show that a person from Rouyn-Noranda has a greater risk of developing lung cancer.
Often, we look at the data in five-year increments. For several consecutive five-year periods, certain indicators have shown a fairly significant gap with the province. […] When we have several consecutive periods like that, it’s a little less likely that it’s because of chance, we start to think that there may be something that explains it
says Dr Trépanier.
The interim director of public health for Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Dr. Stéphane Trépanier.
Photo : Radio-Canada
Like Johanne Elsener, he is of the opinion that air pollution in Rouyn-Noranda has effects on the health of certain people.
Although with our indicators we do not make a causal link, we can definitely think that it is a risk factor, the contaminants that we have and on which we want to work because by reducing this exposure- there, we have a good chance of being able to improve the state of health of our citizens
he says.
In the brief submitted by the 12 regional public health departments on the draft regulation modifying the air quality standards relating to nickel, it can be read that the air quality index (AQI) in Rouyn-Noranda is the most unfavorable in the province.
In 2019, according to the National Pollutant Release Inventory (INRP)2 , the Horne Smelter was also the largest nickel emitter required to report its emissions.
Is it possible that the lung cancer index in Rouyn-Noranda is related to something other than air quality?
For the moment, Dr. Trépanier claims to have no other hypotheses.
On the environmental exposure side, we made several checks and a priori there is nothing else that could explain this, we did not put our finger on something else
he explains
The Horne Foundry guarantees to do the maximum
The Horne Foundry declined our interview request. By e-mail, we reiterate that the Public Health Department specifies that the present data are not used to demonstrate or confirm a cause and effect link between a specific exposure and a state of health.
Entrance to the Horne Foundry in Rouyn-Noranda.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Emilie Parent-Bouchard
It is also said to respect the target determined by the government sanitation certificate, which provides for a maximum average concentration of 100 nanograms per cubic meter. A new certificate must also be renegotiated this year.
<q data-attributes="{"lang":{"value":"fr","label":"Français"},"value":{"html":"Il faut aussi tenir compte du fait que convertir une fonderie en opération depuis plus de 95years to propel it among the most successful in the world does not happen overnight. The results are there and we are very proud of it”,”text”:”We must also take into account the fact that converting a foundry in operation for more than 95 years to propel it among the most efficient in the world is not done overnight. The results are there and we are very proud”}}”>We must also take into account the fact that converting a foundry in operation for more than 95 years to propel it among the most efficient in the world does not happen overnight. The results are there and we are very proud of them.adds the company via email.
To demonstrate that the situation is improving, we are told that the average for the first quarter of 2022 indicates a 54% decrease in emissions compared to the 2015-2021 average, i.e. an average concentration of arsenic in the air recorded at the legal station of 71.4 nanograms per cubic meter.
This is not a significant medium-term improvement compared to the last two years. In 2020, the average arsenic concentration was 69 nanogrammes per cubic meter then 87 nanograms in 2021.