GRASSY NARROWS FIRST NATION, Ont.—Chrissy Swain was one of hundreds of infants on this reserve who, between 1970 and 1992, had their umbilical cord blood tested for mercury by the federal government.While Health Canada stored the data for decades in boxes in its archives, Swain, who only recently received her test results, grew up with problems that could be attributed to mercury poisoning. Her mother took her to a doctor as a toddler because she was clumsy. Into adulthood, her hands began to tingle. Today, she can’t open bottles.Swain’s reading showed a mercury concentration of 17.5 parts per billion (ppb) — more than double the level that Health Canada currently finds concerning — and would trigger additional testing and dietary advice for children and women under 50, according to the regulator. It is three times higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s threshold.Research shows her level is high enough to have increased her risk of having had learning disabilities or motor skill deficits as a child and, as an adult, a heart condition or accelerated aging.“I don’t even know how to process it,” said Swain, 37. “I just think about everybody else, too, who was born” during the period.For decades, this data documenting mercury exposure in Grassy Narrows and nearby Wabaseemoong (Whitedog) First Nation sat in 91 banker’s boxes in Thunder Bay and Ottawa. The sampling began eight years after a paper mill 100 kilometres upstream, in Dryden dumped 10 tonnes of mercury into the English-Wabigoon River that is the lifeblood of the community.The government also has thousands of hair and blood samples taken from children and adults between 1970 and 2000. So far, Health Canada says it has results of 3,674 hair and blood samples from 868 people from Grassy Narrows, and a further 216 cord blood results. From Whitedog, it has 4,789 hair and blood sample and 141 cord blood results from 1,033 peop ...
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