Community liaison forums

Cameco community forum on health features presentations by a panel of seven experts and a question and answer session

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October 21, 2006 — While it was a full day of presentations from a panel of experts as well as an extensive question and answer session, there were some defining moments during the community forum on health held October 21st at the Town Park Recreation Centre in Port Hope.

At one point during the afternoon question and answer session, a member of the audience asked the panellists if they would live and raise a family in Port Hope and would they live near Cameco, based on their knowledge, expertise and backgrounds. Every member of the panel answered yes to both questions with out hesitation. One of the panellists, Dr. Bliss Tracy of Health Canada, said that based on his own knowledge of Cameco’s emission levels and the levels in the environment, he would have no problem living in Port Hope and living close to Cameco would not be a cause of concern for him. Dr. Maria Limson-Zamora, also of Health Canada, stated that it’s safe to live in Port Hope. Dr. Eric Holowaty of Cancer Care Ontario said the fact that there are three Medical Officers of Health living in and around the community should be seen as reassuring.

Another key moment came earlier in the day when during their presentations, both Dr. Tracy and his colleague, Dr. Maria Limson-Zamora, showed that past and present exposure to uranium and radionuclides in Port Hope were orders of magnitude below any level that would produce health effects.

The day-long health forum, which attracted approximately 110 participants, featured presentations from a panel of seven experts.

The panel consisted of Dr. Lynne Noseworthy, medical officer of health, Haliburton, Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit; Dr. Eric Holowaty, senior consultant, Cancer Care Ontario; Dr. Otto Sanchez, associate professor, faculty of health sciences, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT); Dr. Bliss Tracy, head, radiological impact section, Health Canada; Dr. Maria Limson-Zamora, head, bioassay section, Health Canada; Norman Gentner, vice-chair, United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR); and Kirk Vetor, superintendent, compliance and licensing, Cameco Corporation.

During the morning session, Dr. Lynne Noseworthy, medical officer of health, Haliburton, Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit started off the forum with a presentation on public health and the determinants of health. She outlined the role of public health, the sources of the data they use to assess health status of the communities, and the various public health programs administered by the health unit to improve the health of residents.

Dr. Noseworthy was followed by Dr. Eric Holowaty, senior consultant, Cancer Care Ontario. His presentation was entitled: “Cancer in Ontario, a view from the Ontario Cancer Registry, the past, present and future”. Dr. Holowaty provided forum participants with information on the operation of the now 40 year old Cancer Registry saying that as many as fifty seven thousand cases of cancer are expected to be registered in 2006. He outlined the various ways the highly secure data in the registry is used, including research, forecasting trends, estimating current and future resource needs, and evaluating effects of early diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. Otto Sanchez is an associate professor, faculty of health sciences, at the University Of Ontario Institute Of Technology and his research includes analysis of best-available evidence linking environmental factors with human cancer. During his forum presentation, Dr. Sanchez provided a general scientific overview on how cancers develop and then discussed the issues around studying the environment and cancer. He told the forum that the big question is which environmental factors cause cancer in Canadian communities and explained the approach that researchers are using to try and answer the question. He said, “The approach must be multidisciplinary, based on the best available scientific evidence, and biologically plausible…in other words, does a relationship between an environmental factor and a cancer make sense?”

Then it was Health Canada’s turn with presentations from two representatives. First was Dr. Bliss Tracy, the head of the Department’s radiological impact section, whose talk was titled, “Uranium and Other Radionuclides in Port Hope.” Dr. Tracy outlined several of the Health Canada studies that had been conducted in Port Hope, starting with the initial radon and gamma surveys in 1976. He talked about the processes and the locations used to collect the data, such as uranium in air, and the comparison of the results to elsewhere in Ontario. Dr. Tracy was followed by Dr. Limson-Zamora, the head of Health Canada’s bioassay section, who discussed the bio-effects from the intake of uranium. Dr. Zamora gave a brief description of how uranium can enter and leave the body, the medical tests used to determine exposure to uranium, outlined the various detection limits, the ability to measure them, and the results. She told the forum about a current cross-Canada health measures survey being conducted, a Statistics Canada initiative in partnership with Health Canada. The survey will measure uranium in blood.

Forum participants then received an international perspective on the nuclear industry and health effects. The next speaker was Dr. Norman Gentner, vice-chair of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). Dr. Gentner provided background history on UNSCEAR, which was established in 1955, with Canada as a member since its inception. He said that UNSCEAR is the UN body with a mandate to assess global levels and effects of ionizing radiation, and outlined the work done by the organization, including the review of epidemiological studies related to human radiation exposure. During his presentation, Dr. Gentner said that UNSCEAR’s analysis shows that internationally, the average annual effective dose of radiation for workers in the nuclear industry has been declining since 1975.

The final forum presenter was Kirk Vetor, the superintendent of compliance and licensing with Cameco. Vetor provided information on the various aspects of Cameco’s Environmental Management Program, including how emissions are measured according to an established monitoring program approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). He pointed out that all of Cameco’s air emissions are in compliance with federal and provincial requirements. Vetor also told the forum that Cameco has made available, for the first time, a new, easy to read, report to the community about the conversion facility’s emissions (see separate story in this newsletter about the report).

For members of the community unable to attend the forum, the presentations will be available for viewing on Cameco’s community website at www.camecoporthope.com in the near future.

After lunch, forum participants had the opportunity to ask questions of the panellists. During the two hour session, forum moderator John Armstrong alternated between taking oral questions from the floor and reading written questions that were submitted by attendees during the presentations. A wide range of questions were directed to members of the panel on various topics related to Cameco’s emissions, research on the effect of radiation on humans, the relationship between radiation and cancer, results of past health studies and the possible need for future studies.

At the conclusion of the forum, Bob Steane, vice-president, Cameco fuel services division told those attending, “We had three objectives today and I believe they were achieved. We wanted to create a positive environment for information access and exchange, to provide participants with more background information on health and health-related issues, and to have a dialogue on various aspects of health as it relates to Cameco’s operations in Port Hope and the nuclear industry in general, including the mandates of the various agencies involved, health in the community and how it’s measured, and health studies…past, present and future.”

The health forum was the sixth community forum held by Cameco, part of Cameco’s commitment to work with the community to address issues, concerns and opportunities.