Global Environmental Health Crises and IICPH Collaborations with First Peoples Communities

Communities around the world are finally engaged in efforts to arrest the downward spiral of our degrading environmental and population health to one degree or another (pun intended). The links between human activity, epidemics of disease and catastrophic environmental degradation are now clear to all but the most fervent deniers of the problems that we, as humanity itself, now face.

IICPH has a proud tradition of over 25 years of bringing attention, education and assistance to the environmental health concerns of local communities and First Peoples in Canada and around the world. This work bolsters, promotes, encourages, and empowers the communities to undertake independent scientific study, locate trusted professional help and develop an informed citizenry.

It was sad, yet surprising and useful, to learn that critical evidence about expected severe effects on the health of Grassy Narrows and White Dog communities from exposure to high levels of mercury was suppressed by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. However, reports like that should alert communities to contact the appropriate political leaders and encourage responsible remediation, protection of public environmental health, and comprehensive reviews of available information of available public health trends.

Achieving effective collaborations on human and environmental health with any community is not easy. Exposing environmental health risks can aggravate members of reservations, communities, families, corporations, and governments. Self-interested parties focused on economic problems can and do use any opportunity to divide and defeat our collaborations and deflect public attention away from the volume, credibility and quality of evidence contained in studies, reports, media attention and even in governmental studies. Examples can be found in the well-documented, but poorly disseminated, links between exposure to environmental contaminants including uranium, mercury, and organo-chlorines and clusters of diabetes and birth defects in First Peoples and non-Native communities.

IICPH has interviewed survivors from these and other well-identified hotspots and given them opportunities to ask simple and important questions about their health concerns and that of others, such as:

• What are the effects of uranium, mercury, and chlorine-based chemicals on kidneys, pancreas, developing babies, and children?
• If we know that there is a link between these exposures, physical defects and diseases like diabetes, what are the “key indicators” that communities should be alert to?
• Many health records and related mercury statistics have been gathered and kept by government and health departments for decades — where do they go? Hair, blood and core samples have been taken from members of our communities, apparently to compare to clusters of symptoms of mercury poisoning, diabetes, schizophrenia, and cancer. How much information has been collected? Where is it? Who holds it? How can we obtain it?
• How can we get an independent analysis when the study results are conflicting? Will the government pay for split sample studies, where one half of the samples go to a government lab and the other half to an independent investigator of the community’s choice?
• With barriers such as “Freedom of Information” protocols, “proprietary information,” and “confidentiality” requirements in place, how can communities obtain information about our own health and others who have similar problems?

User-friendly protocols must be established to allow the flow of health data and analysis to reach the hands of concerned citizens and independent professionals. The IICPH model for community based health profiles, Health 2000, was designed by Dr. Rosalie Bertell to help groups to develop their own knowledge base, decide which road to take with environmental and health “professionals,” and take action. At this time in our history, it is incumbent upon us to find new ways to use our communal resources, body of work and successful experiences with communities and concerned individuals and expand our reach. Do you have skills, time or resources which would help us to work together toward these ends?

Willi Nolan communications with residents of Grassy Narrows and various NGO organizations in support of the Grassy Narrows and White Dog communities.

References

Former Canadian Prime Minister Suppressed Mercury studies: http://groups.google.com/group/friends-of-agg/t/b696ec0bec504ebc?hl=en and http://intercontinentalcry.org/former-canadian-prime-minister-suppressed-mercury-studies