WARKWARTH – ONTARIO – CANADA – MAY 2007 – SLUDGE VICTIMS SUFFER DIARRHEA, SEVERE CRAMPS.
“HORRIBLE COUGH”, ELEVATED HEAVY METALS IN THEIR SYSTEMS
he people in Warkwarth have been trying to get the attention of public health officials for some time. There is good
documentation on community illness.
.May 23, 2007 People fear health at risk (EXCERPTS)
Three dozen people met with Trent Hills Deputy Mayor Dean Peters and Coun. Bill White last weekend to communicate
fears that the spreading of biosolids near their homes threatens their health.
For some the evidence is incontrovertible. Linda Donaldson told the group she and her husband Roger
were among 22 people who became seriously ill in the fall of 2005 after treated municipal sewage was
applied on farm fields near their home on Norham Road. All suffered from diarrhea. At one point Mr.
Donaldson experienced cramps so severe that the pain caused him to fall to the floor unconscious and an
ambulance had to be summoned.
"We had to sell our house and move to Campbellford," Mrs. Donaldson said. Within six weeks the
"horrible cough" that had been plaguing her stopped.
The couple have been seeing a toxicologist in Toronto who has informed them they have elevated levels
of heavy metals in their systems. The specialist is also treating six other people from Percy ward "with
similar problems," and she "expect(s) the number of patients will grow in the Warkworth area," Ms.
Donaldson said.
She and her husband "were starting to feel really good" until a few weeks ago. "My chromium has shot up
again, so obviously (biosolids are) being spread somewhere," Ms. Donaldson said. "Our toxicologist said
(airborne pathogens) can travel eight to 10 kilometres from a site."
Research conducted at the University of Arizona bear this out, reported Nigel Young. The researchers
found that "people are safe if they are 10 kilometres away" from where biosolids are being applied. But in
Ontario, "the guidelines still allow the spreading of sludge 25 metres (82.02 feet) away from a home," he
said. (This separation distance applies if the material is injected or worked into the soil within six hours of
being spread; the distance is 90 metres (295.02 feet) if surface applied.)
Last week biosolids shipped from Cobourg were applied on agricultural land at the rear of Mr. Young's property. It was
that massive operation seven kilometres west of Warkworth, involving a convoy of tankers, that led to the
May 20 meeting of the residents at the home of Rob Milligan on County Road 29. Most of the people present live along
the same road.
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