Arsenic levels 7,500 times too high

People living near a former Noranda copper and smelter mine in the Gaspé region are calling for an independent study of pollution levels in the town of Murdochville.

Ten years ago, a public health monitoring program found levels of arsenic in the air were 7,500 times higher than what the environment ministry considered safe.

Arsenic is known to cause cancer.

The results, which the government never made public, were uncovered by former Noranda employees who used access to information laws to get the data.

Gerald Young, one of the people who went looking for the information, has lived in Murdochville for 35 years, most of them working for Noranda.

"If I had know, do you think I would have stayed in Murdochville with my wife and my kids?"

Young and others in town have started working with lawyer Guy Bertrand on legal action against the government and Noranda.

In the meantime, they are calling on the province to conduct an inquiry.

"So what I am asking Charest, is to be transparent with the people of Murdochville. We want to know the truth," Young said.

Municipal officials deny pollution problem

Murdochville's general director, Jean Marie Chretien, has dismissed the results from the study, as public health officials have not reported more cases of cancer in the town.

Chretien said the town is on the verge of re-inventing itself and this kind of news is not what it needs.

"The papers say the town is poisoned, but that is really not the case," Chretien said in French.

Noranda shut down its copper and smelter plant in 2002.

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