According to a report published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) yesterday, on average one child in the Queensland mining town of Mount Isa will exceed safe lead levels every nine days. The report also claimed that not enough was done to address the problem. MP Betty Kiernan has defended the measures taken to address this serious problem.
According to report co-author Dr Mark Taylor who is a Macquarie University associate professor, 11 per cent of the 400 children born every year in Mount Isa have blood lead levels in excess of the current acceptable guidelines. He explained, “This study finally puts that theory to rest - we've looked at the evidence, that includes . . . things like soil and geology, and they all point in the same direction - that it's the processing of the soil, not what's in the soil, which is the cause of the problem…Cleaning up the river is good, but that's the easy part. It's cleaning up what comes out in the air which is the hard part, and that's still not being addressed.”
Ms Kiernan however has assured that further test results are awaited. She also heads the “Living with Lead Alliance in Mount Isa” – a public education campaign in the community. Premier Anna Bligh meanwhile assured that the Queensland Government was doing all it could to protect the health of children in Mount Isa. She countered that results of the tests showed that 5% of children in Mount Isa had unacceptable high levels of lead in their blood. She explained that the tests were conducted twice in the past two years. She said, “We've seen those children who did have unacceptable high levels of lead reduced from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent…I should stress that this is a minority of children but we are doing everything in our power to fix it.” Ms Kiernan further said, “We have this year launched a further testing of 144 children - to date we've had 136 children participate in that testing… This latest testing that we're doing of the study of the 136 children - 5 per cent are showing an excess of 10 micrograms per decilitre… Now what I want to do is to ensure and to bring down lead levels in children - that's a key priority…Once the full report of that is finalized, that'll be brought back to the community.”
On the other hand mining giant Xstrata is defending a class action over blood lead levels in Mount Isa. According to company spokesman Steve de Kruijff, the company has never exceeded regulatory limits for respirable lead at any air monitor in the Mount Isa community since acquiring the mines in 2003. Xstrata is also co-ordinating the Lead Pathways Study, which deals with a survey of land pollution in Mount Isa, and the second and third parts, which deal with water and air pollution, are both due to be released next year.
According to solicitor Damian Scattini Dr. Taylor’s study was the crucial evidence. He said, “You only have to go to the top of the hill in Mount Isa and watch those trucks going up to the slag heaps and see how the winds blow the dust off the top and across the town.”
However, Mount Isa Mayor John Molony said, “We're a working town and a great town. The bloke who wrote that is working in hospital-like conditions in a big city - he wouldn't understand life out here.”
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