Province, feds disagree on Port Colborne risks

Health Canada and Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment are at odds over hazards faced by residents living in Port Colborne, Ont., near an old Inco refinery.

Health Canada says the province may be underestimating the risk of exposure to heavy metals such as nickel, arsenic and cadmium in the air and soil.

The review, written last September and obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information laws, says Ontario should use stricter international guidelines to assess exposure.

Regarding nickel exposure, federal scientists say that if standards proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) had been used, most age groups in Port Colborne would be exceeding the maximum recommended daily intake.

High levels of nickel, nickel oxide and other contaminants were found in the soil and in homes surrounding the old refinery, which was largely shut down in the mid-1980s.

Residents in the blue-collar neighbourhood have launched a $750-million class action lawsuit against Inco, the Ontario government and others. Their lawyer, Eric Gillespie, has accused the government of using unreliable data.

The province has decided to use a standard proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. However, Health Canada says the EPA standard does not take into account nickel’s potential cancer-causing properties when inhaled, whereas the WHO standard does.

The Ontario environment ministry’s final risk assessment is due out this spring.

The province intends to stand by the use of the U.S. standard and has called on an independent panel of environmental experts to back up its position.