Sludge Watch ==> Great Lakes - CDC tries to suppress report - disease from pollution

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

It does look like some agencies who are supposed protect public health are 
trying to suppress reports on pollution and health.  The recent court case 
on the falsification of sludge  contamination records from the City of 
Augusta Georgia, the EPA role in this travesty,  and the role of the 
University of Georgia in publishing science reports with falsified sewage 
sludge / biosolids data are most disturbing.  Now this.



Cancer high lakeside

Fri, March 14, 2008

A U.S. study finds a higher rate of cancer in Great Lake cities.
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By MICHAEL OLIVEIRA, CP



TORONTO -- It's imperative that Canada study the potential health impacts of 
pollution and poor water quality in light of a controversial American report 
that suggests some Great Lakes cities have abnormally high rates of cancer 
mortality and other health problems, water advocates said yesterday.

The report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 
initially scheduled for release last summer, but was officially made public 
this week, more than a month after excerpts had been leaked online.

The CDC had refused to release the report because of "serious concerns" 
about certain research methods, and because it thought the data could lead 
the public to inaccurately conclude that pollution was found to be directly 
responsible for elevated rates of illness and death.

But it relented after pressure from environmental groups, Congress and even 
the Canadian government, which wrote to the CDC on Feb. 25 expressing its 
"concern" about the delay.

The report, released Wednesday, identified elevated rates of infant 
mortality, premature births and low birth weight, and breast, colon and lung 
cancer mortality rates in some Great Lakes communities in the United States.




Canadian Great Lakes watchers say the situation is strikingly similar to 
what happened 10 years ago, when Health Canada prepared its own report on 
the health of Great Lakes residents, but suppressed it until it was leaked 
to the media.

The government should conduct another study on the possible health hazards 
for the more than nine million Canadians living in the Great Lakes basin, 
but there also must be a commitment to be completely forthcoming with the 
results, said John Jackson of Great Lakes United.

"The government does not seem to trust the public to be able to deal with 
the questions around human health concerns and they seem to have this insane 
fear that there will be a sort of panic in the streets," Jackson said.

The American study was commissioned by the International Joint Commission, a 
binational Great Lakes watchdog that advises the Canadian and U.S. 
governments on water issues. Canadian chairperson Herb Gray said he's 
pleased the report is finally public.

Canadian Great Lakes advocates also were anxiously awaiting the release of 
the report and it reconfirms the need for updated research, said Mark 
Mattson of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper.

The government mainly conducts risk assessments rather than studying those 
who are already sick, likely because it's afraid of liability issues, 
Mattson said.

He said he doesn't doubt a new study in Canada would result in similar 
findings of elevated health problems, and the public deserves to know what's 
happening in their communities.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/National/2008/03/14/4999956-sun.html




............................................................


Fund Great Lakes pollution study, Ottawa urged


Last Updated: Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Canadian Press


Canada is being urged to earmark money to study the potential health impacts 
of pollution following an American report suggesting that water quality in 
the Great Lakes may be linked to cancer and premature births.

The report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta was 
officially released Wednesday but was leaked online more than a month ago.

The CDC initially refused to release the report because it questioned 
whether some of the links between pollution and reports of illness and 
deaths could be definitively connected.

The report has now been sent to the U.S. Institute of Medicine — considered 
the best scientific body in the country — to judge the veracity of the 
research.

Canadian Great Lakes watchers say it's deja vu because Health Canada 
prepared a similar report in the 1990s and also initially suppressed it.

John Jackson of Great Lakes United believes the public should always have 
the right to see such reports to decide whether they are relevant.

"Government does not seem to trust the public to be able to deal with the 
questions around human health concerns, and they seem to have this insane 
fear that there will be a sort of panic in the streets, that people would 
get unreasonable if they hear what health impacts are happening in their 
community," Jackson said.

"A lack of trust of the public to be able to reasonably handle what the 
government considers to be embarrassing and scary information, I just find 
completely unacceptable."

A spokesman for federal Environment Minister John Baird said a letter had 
been written to the CDC on Feb. 25 asking it to publicly release the report.



www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/03/13/great-lakes-health.html