Denise Maycock hears Grand Bahamians raise serious doubts over an independent study into long standing environmental and health issues . . .
PINDER’S Point residents in Grand Bahama have rejected the findings of an independent assessment study by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) that there are no environmental and health risk factors associated with them living in close proximity to the industrial companies.
For more than 30 years there have been ongoing concerns about the chemical odours and pollution in the air and oil spills by the nearby industrial plants in the Freeport Industrial Park Area.
Concerned residents believed that many years of exposure to chemicals pollution had led to the high incidence of cancer and deaths among people living in Pinder’s Point, Lewis Yard and the surrounding settlements.
At a town meeting on Friday at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Pinder’s Point, residents were able to voice their concerns and ask questions about the results of the PAHO/WHO report revealed by Dr Michael Darville, the Minister for Grand Bahama, in parliament during his contribution to the Budget Debate at the end of June.
Accompanying the minister was Dr Marcelo Korc, an Advisor of PAHO in Washington, who said that the research indicated that the cancer rate among residents in Pinder’s Point was no different from the rest of Grand Bahama. He noted that they looked at records dating back 25 years at the Rand Memorial Hospital.
Reverend Michael Pinder felt that it was an “unfair” comparison since many residents had already moved from the area and were now living in Freeport and other parts of Grand Bahama.
“I do not accept these results as fair and valid,” said Rev Pinder, a long time resident of the area.
Shuffel Hepburn, a local businessman, also challenged the findings in the report, which he claims are inconsistent. He questioned the source PAHO used to peg the settlement’s population at 5,000, on which they based their findings.
Dr Korc said that the number was estimated and, when pressed further by Mr Hepburn, said that it was obtained from previous studies that had been done in the area.
Mr Hepburn said the report had indicated that some 3,000 people are living in the community, and questioned what happened to the 2,000 residents that are no longer there.
“I read the report and I turned it over to a chemist who came up with nine different questions of abnormalities and inconsistencies in the report. The 2,000 that are no longer around, where are they, are they dead?
“There are 2,000 people missing from this community, and the report is saying there is no risk involved in living close to plant,” said Mr Hepburn, who noted that he has lost five of his relatives in the area to cancer.
Dr Korc could not account for them.
Miscarriage
of justice
“This is a shrinking community,” said Mr Hepburn, who described the report as a “miscarriage of justice” and a “slap in the face” to the residents of the community.
“The community is not growing. Instead it has shrunk by more than 2,000 over the last 25 years.”
Mr Hepburn said that the researchers made no attempt to find out where the 2,000 people had gone.
“It is possible they may have died from cancer. They made no attempt to find out where they went to before they did the study.”
Issue was also taken over a statement in the report that BORCO was not a co-operative participant in the study. BORCO has been one of the key offenders of the odours and oil spills in the area.
In 1995, a massive tank fire occurred at the plant after lightning struck the tank, blanketing the community in black smoke and forcing the evacuation of the Pinder’s Point/Lewis Yard community.
Mr Hepburn said that the study comes 30 years too late when some of other offending industrial plants (Syntex and Franklin Chemicals) had left after years of pollution.
The Government contracted PAHO/WHO to conduct an environmental and health risk assessment study of the Pinder’s Point area. The year-long study ran from December 4, 2014, to November 30, 2015.
Dr Darville said that two previous reports were concluded - by Mike Wallace in 2014 which indicated that there were no toxic chemicals in the air, and by Abigail Pedican, which indicated the same.
“What we needed was a world renowned organisation to come to Grand Bahama and … to conduct study that was free of contamination from the government, and placed in the hand of an independent organisation,” he explained.
At the request of the Ministry of Grand Bahama, PAHO engaged the Institute of Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS) of the Utrecht University in the Netherlands to conduct an environmental and health risk assessment.
“This study concluded in December, 2015. It was brought to the attention of the Attorney General’s office, it passed through Cabinet and I am happy to report to this honourable House that after years of speculation, it has been scientifically proven by this independent assessment that there are no environmental and health risk factors associated with living in close proximity to the industrial companies,” Dr Darville said in June.
The report found that during the monitoring period and based on air and water samples. there was no evidence found of harmful chemical exposure on a day-to-day basis in the affected residential areas. However, it said, there is a potential health risk associated with incidental or periodic releases of chemicals from the industrial area, such as venting of storage tanks.
Died in Nassau
The report also stated that, based on analysis of health records extending back over 25 years, no evidence has been found that cancer rates are higher in the studied population than in other areas of Grand Bahama. It found a downward trend in hospital visits related to respiratory disorders based on analysis of hospital records over 25 years.
The residents did not agree with the report and stressed that many of their loved ones had died of cancer, and that some had gone for treatment in New Providence.
“We do not have an institution in Grand Bahama that treats cancer patients. Residents here would have to go into Nassau and many have died in Nassau, so those deaths would have not been taken into account in the study,” said one woman.
Dr Darville believes that the removal of the refinery at BORCO is one of the reasons why there has been a decline in hospital visits for respiratory illness and disorders. He noted that government will proceed with recommendations from PAHO to install eNoses in the area to monitor air quality. He also noted that the next phase of the study will be a safety assessment of the affected communities which will commence this month.
He implored Mr Hepburn and/or any person challenging the report and who has any evidence contrary to the report to bring it to the Ministry of Grand Bahama.
Pinder’s Point/Lewis Yard Environmental Committee chairman Bertram Pinder said the meeting had been called by the committee to update the community on the report presented by Dr Darville in Parliament.
Mr Pinder said that they feel the recent survey/analysis is 30 plus years too late. He noted that recommendations of the Task Force Report in 1985, among other recommendations (Section 700.2 (2) Long Term, had recommended “the eventual relocation of the schools and the residents in the Hawksbill, Pinder’s Point, Hunters, Lewis Yard settlements”.
“The original committee, Pinder’s Point Environmental, was founded in 1979 and here we are today 37 years later still suffering,” he said.
Mr Pinder said the residents have been passive and co-operative.
“Thirty-seven years is a long time to be suffering even if it is only a nuisance,” he said.
“We are disappointed that after all this time and efforts that there still appears to be no solution in sight for the residents’ ultimate goal (of relocation). We have adhered to your request for patience, but we have lost hope that governments will once again string us along for another four years, while more of our residents will relocate themselves from the suffering of bad odours, headaches and bad feelings and other respiratory ailments from the air.
“I trust and pray that we do not have another incident of a major tank fire or any other major disaster that will affect residents of Pinder’s Point and then find out it’s too late,” he said.
The report submitted by PAHO indicates that, as presented, it is not complete.
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dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
Comments
sealice 7 years, 7 months ago
There these Bahamian's go again... thinking that the Gov't or the PLP actually care about them?? Don't you remember Rubis?? You ain getting nothin from dese crooked politicos best to move on or start diggin ya hole.
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