Health vs capitalism 2

The population of Rouyn-Noranda, a metallurgic production centre in North Western Quebec is under the menace of severe and diverse kinds of industrial pollution. Out of the general population of just over 27,000 people, the workers of the Horne smelter and the largely working class neighbourhood of Notre-Dame directly to the south of the plant are the most exposed, mainly to large doses of arsenic, lead and perhaps more frighteningly to beryllium.

Recently, representatives of the company and public health officials have admitted to a certain number of disturbing facts. La Frontière, the local weekly newspaper reported a sharp increase of arsenic pollution in its January 30th 2002 issue. According to La Frontière, since the mid-1990’s, the company has been adding arsenic to its copper before sending it to its Montreal-East refining operation. ⁽¹⁾

This has had the effect of increasing the general level of exposure to arsenic in and around the smelter. From 1990 to 2000, the quantity of arsenic going through the factory chimneys has risen from 45 tons to 60.2 tons a year. During the same period, the objective was to lower it to 25 tons a year. So much for the company’s objectives! At this time, it has been impossible for Internationalist Notes to verify the amount of arsenic emanating directly from the plant itself that is not presently going through the chimneys. But this amount could very well be important as the company seems to identify that a problem area is the air ducts of the anode casting sector of the installation. Lead levels are also on the rise and have always been a cause of worry in the town. Children playing in their sandboxes can be exposed to heavy metals in the soil. They are particularly in danger because lead can have a devastating affect on the normal development of their central nervous system. Workers inside the smelter are exposed to 10 times the arsenic level around it! Company and public health officials are trying to be reassuring but indirectly admit to their ignorance by announcing that a provincial committee has been established to determine at what level airborne arsenic can become dangerous. A New York Mount Sinai Hospital specialist who had studied the presence of arsenic at the plant at the beginning of the eighties considered that the only real safety level was zero.

Meanwhile, not much has been recently said locally about the beryllium problem at the Horne installation. Beryllium can also be quite a health hazard. And the company’s attitude towards it is cause for worry. On February 25th 2002, it refused an invitation to present its case on "Un an plus tard", a public affairs TV show on one of the main Quebec networks concerning the beryllium problem at its Murdochville installation which seems to be undergoing the same problems as the Rouyn-Noranda one. Also troubling is the whole history of the company (Noranda) in regards to industrial health problems. ⁽²⁾

What is berylliosis and how do you get it?

The beryllium problem at the Horne smelter came to the fore in 1998 when a doctor suspected the metal to be the cause of one worker’s breathing problems. On the 18th of February 1999 the verdict came out: chronic berylliosis. Two other workers were already showing signs of being infected. On the 10th of April 1999, Montreal’s La Presse newspaper published an article saying that at least 300 workers (out of a workforce of around 600) were being screened for the sickness. Since then, just about all the workers have past special tests through the local public health system. However, Noranda has also now had a great many workers submitted to its own tests.

The problem with beryllium is a seemingly recent one in Noranda but is now a subject of worry in a great number of industrial installations throughout the world. Quebec’s Health and Safety Commission, the CSST has listed more than 2800 workplaces where workers are exposed to the metal. So just in this province it could affect the lives of thousands of workers. ⁽³⁾

The metal is hard and lightweight, is an excellent electrical and thermal conductor and is non-magnetic. All these qualities make it suitable for use in all kinds of industries. It is notably used in aerospace components, semi-conductor chips, nuclear reactors, golf clubs, etc. Thus, the Horne plant that to our knowledge recycles 100,000 tons of scrap metal a year is certainly treating good quantities of beryllium-laden material. So far it is hard to get a precise number of affected workers. People in the health system feel intimidated because in many ways, Rouyn-Noranda is still what used to be called a "company town" and in the present economic situation, nobody wants to lose their job... Our information is that at least five workers have been grudgingly recognized by the local CSST as having contracted chronic berylliosis and another five are awaiting a decision. Another twenty workers including sub-contractors have been shown to have developed an allergy to the metal and can thus contract the sickness at any time.

A person can develop beryllium disease even after being away from the beryllium industry for many years. ⁽⁴⁾

Thus, as the Notre-Dame neighbourhood population has still not been tested (and there is no plan to do so) and as the CSST is showing obvious bad faith in the whole affair, we can only guess on the extent of the infection at this point. What is clear is that:

1. The company cannot be trusted.
2. The CSST is clearly in the hands of the bosses.
3. There is no reason to think that the poison gasses stop at the plant gate so the Notre-Dame population that lives literally across the street from the smelter is being treated irresponsibly to say the least.
4. Despite some complaints and demands for new safety investments, the union is not acting or attempting any real mobilization of the workers and general population.

This is serious business. Beryllium has recently been classified as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and new research has shown that 40% of the population has a genetic marker that has been associated to the disease. Internationalist Notes intends to follow up on this question in our next issue. Public health and safety is a key criterion by which we can evaluate the degree of humanity in society. As we have seen here and will learn in the following articles, the capitalist system is once again dismally failing the test. In Rouyn-Noranda as everywhere else the cause of the sickness is capitalism itself.

(1) We are trying to find out if the added arsenic in the anodes sent to the Noranda Affinerie CCR is a problem at this plant too.

(2) See the excellent but insufficiently circulated 1984 documentary "Noranda" by Daniel Corvec and Richard Monderie.

(3) Hear the report from CBC radio’s "Les Années lumière" of February 17th 2002.

(4) Medfacts, published by the National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

(5) New information on the Murdochville plant points out that 13 workers are affected by beryllium disease. At the Noranda Affinerie CCR, we know that 164 workers exposed to beryllium are being tested. No news yet as to the arsenic problem.