Mother Earth Journal

By Terri Hansen
Environment, Science and Health Reporter

In at least one indigenous community, a strange reality exists — babies that should be boys are being born girls.

New research showing skewed birth ratios in the villages of northern Greenland has brought to light earlier studies that found indigenous mothers living in the northern most reaches of the Arctic Circle are having girls – but not boys.

The studies linked the skewed sex ratios with human exposures to PCBs and other persistent organic chemicals.

The Indigenous Peoples Organization initiated the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program project in 2004, following a report that some Arctic indigenous communities are among the most exposed populations to persistent toxic substances.

The assessment concluded, “Any threat to continued consumption of their foods, including chemical contamination, is not only a potential threat to the health of the individual, but also to the social structures and entire cultural identity of these indigenous peoples.”

Toxic pollutants travel from industrialized countries and accumulate in the marine food chain of the Arctic region, and in the traditional diet of indigenous peoples. Blood levels of such pollutants as PCBs and mercury were several times higher in residents of Arctic Canada and Greenland than measured in residents of industrialized areas of North America.

Perhaps an even darker legacy of the industrial contamination is the pollutants that targeted pre-born boys in Canada on the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, an Aanishinaabek community, turning them into girls.

What’s normal are 106 boy births for every 100 girls – its nature’s way of compensating for males more likely to perish hunting and in conflicts.

But for years now, scientists have reported declines in male births worldwide. Most startling is the sharp drop of boys among the Aanishinaabek of Aamjiwnaang: “A greater rate of change than has been reported previously anywhere,” according to a published 2005 study in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

It’s the kind of attention this tiny community of 850 never wanted. In the beginning it was unconceivable what was happening in their tiny community.

Their pain and their questions began five years ago, after biologist Michael Gilbertson found elevated levels of PCBs, pesticides and heavy metals on the reserve and asked if they had more girls than boys.

Tribal members were first baffled, and then aghast following the realization that yes, they had enough girls for three baseball teams, but not enough boys for even one team. They began to take pay attention. Anger soon turned to action.

Ron Plain grew up in Aamjiwnaang. Plain is a calm steady man, not the type you’d peg as an activist.

An accidental catalyst release from nearby Imperial Oil in 2002 changed all that. Imperial workers sampled and cleaned Aamjiwnaang homes, and even their cars, inside and out. Don’t worry they told Plain, stirring up dust as they cleaned,“The dust won’t hurt you.”

Plain did worry. He asked incredulous, “If it’s harmful to our houses and cars, what’s it doing to our lungs and our bodies?”

Plain and other tribal members organized their own environmental investigative committee, a grassroots effort. Meanwhile Imperial Oil offered $300 to each homeowner if they agreed to waive any damages and legal counsel, and many accepted their offer. Imperial paid $125,000 in fines.

The Aamjiwnaang’s environmental investigation team uncovered studies done of their lands years before. A 1986 scientific report by the University of Windsor showed that mercury, a neurotoxin, was present on their reserve at a 100 times greater amount than the Severe Effect Level set by the Canadian government.

Next, Sun Oil – now Suncor – announced they planned to build the largest ethanol plant in Canada right across the street from the tribal community. Plain and other members of the tribal environmental committee, angry and fed up, closed their roads. For six weeks, Sun Oil trucks could not get through.

“We won,” says Plain. “They agreed not to put the plant in. We shut down a multi-million dollar industry.” But their battles have only begun, Plain says.

The Aanishinaabek people of the Aamjiwnaang have occupied their lands at the southernmost tip of Lake Huron for thousands of years, long before the discovery of oil and the boom ‘oil rush.’ Their homelands are integral to their social structure and their entire cultural identity.

Today their land, at the border between Ontario and Michigan just south of Sarnia, Ontario, lies in the shadow of Canada’s largest concentration of petrochemical and manufacturing facilities. It’s dubbed Chemical Valley. Their land adjoins the St. Clair River Area of Concern, designated because of its long history of air and water pollution.

Two new reports this month are a dramatic indictment of the industry’s impact on the Aamjiwnaang community. “Exposing Canada’s Chemical Valley,” identifies 62 facilities in Canada and the U.S. that have made the area Ontario’s worst air pollution hotspot.

Staggering, says Ecojustice Canada, who commissioned the study, is the amount of toxic pollutants released.

“What is particularly striking about the air pollution in the Sarnia area is the immense quantity of toxic chemicals emitted,” said Ecojustice senior scientist and report author Dr. Elaine McDonald. “There is growing evidence that the health of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation members and the local environment has been severely compromised.”

New findings from researchers at Ontario’s IntrAmericas Centre for Environment and Health confirm that more girls than boys are born in some Canadian communities. The cause of the phenomenon is airborne pollutants called dioxins that can alter normal sex ratios, even when the source of the pollution is kilometers away.

Industry spokesmen did not respond to the Ecojustice Canada report. After a period of silence industry-funded Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association’s Dean Edwardson told reporters, “We want an open and transparent process…something that is scientifically valid, peer-reviewed and is meaningful.” He said their industry would pay for such a study.

Plain says there already is a scientifically valid, peer-reviewed study. “The 2005 study was reviewed by top scientists and was published in the highly regarded scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives.”

Edwardson countered, saying data released in September from the County of Lambton Community Health Services Department shows that the birth ratios of the Sarnia-Lambton area are similar to those for the rest of Ontario. To that, Plain says, “For years, we have been asking the County of Lambton for a research program establishing the birth ratios by affected regions as opposed to the blanket wide study where those farthest from the plume are blended into the ratio.” So far, the county has refused Aamjiwnaang’s request.

Findings by Ecojustice Canada reveal pollutants are having significant impacts on the Aanishinaabek cultural lifeways, impacting hunting, fishing, medicine gathering, and ceremonial activities.

The Aamjiwnaang environmental team says that chemical releases and spills remain the community’s primary concern. But ask tribal members and they’ll tell you – it’s fear that concerns them.

For more information on these reports: Exposing Canada’s Chemical Valley

www.ecojustice.ca/reports/chemicalvalley_oct2007.pdg

The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program, http://www.amap.no/