The Power of Misinformation and Paranoia

If you haven't already, read the National Post's editorial on this story.

My view:

The National Post editorial board is correct in stating that Dr. John O’Connor was wrong in the number of cholangiocarcinoma cases he reported occurring in Fort Chipewyan. Yet, NP’s failure to grasp key elements in the ongoing saga regarding Fort Chipewyan and its abnormally high rates of cancer spreads the same type of ‘misinformation and paranoia’ that it accuses Dr. O’Connor of engaging in.

Fort Chipewyan residents first raised concerns when they noticed the increased number of cancers and cancer related deaths occurring within their community. However, it was only when Dr. O’Connor joined community members in vocalizing his concerns did Alberta Health Services consider it necessary to initiate a study to examine cancer incidence in the community. The study confirmed the concerns of Dr. O’Connor and the community, as the number of cancer cases were higher than expected in Fort Chipewyan.

However, the NP editorial downplays the community’s elevated cancer rate and the role environmental factors may have behind it. According to the NP, the concerns of community residents and health officials are unfounded, as Fort Chipewyan’s elevated cancer rate is natural and the community’s close proximity to the oil sands creates this false impression that the latter has an influence on the former. Further, the NP expresses certainty when it claims that the community’s high cancer rate is due to either chance or lifestyle choices.

This is a misrepresentation of the AHS study, as it concluded that increased cancer rates could be the result of a multitude of factors, such as chance, lifestyle, but also environmental factors, such as oil sands development activity. Moreover, the study is explicit in its recommendation that increased monitoring and further studies are required to establish the community’s elevated cancer rate trend and its causes. Yet, for some reason the NP rejects environmental factors as potentially contributing to the community’s elevated rate of cancer and that the concerns of residents are baseless.

Rather than vilifying Dr. O’Connor and misleading readers, the NP should focus its attention on the real questions surrounding this story. Why does the provincial government fail to heed its own study’s findings and acknowledge that environmental factors may be responsible for Fort Chipewyan’s elevated rates of cancer? Further, why does the government refuse to engage in an independent, peer reviewed, comprehensive study of the potential impact of environmental factors on community’s health, as the AHS study recommends?

The real issue is the provincial government’s unwillingness to respond adequately to the concerns of community residents and the recommendations of its own studies. There may be a link between oil sands development and the deteriorating health of Fort Chipewyan residents. As a result, the Alberta government has a moral responsibility to determine what is behind the community’s elevated risk of cancer. However, it has currently failed to do so, and this is the real issue that the NP should devote its energies in exploring.