TANNARA YELLAND
Associate News Editor
Research linking diabetes to pollution has been largely ignored by mainstream media outlets, says John Hummel.
Hummel has been active in the field of environmental activism and advocating for First Nations for the past 30 years, and has been attempting to rectify what he sees as an oversight on the part of the media.
“It’s well known in scientific circles,” that there is a connection between pollutants and diabetes, he said. “But it has hardly made it into any media.”
Studies showing a clear link between pollution and the development of diabetes have been around since the early 1990s. The National Academy of Sciences published a report in July 1993 that linked Type 2 diabetes to dioxin, one of the main chemicals in Agent Orange, the infamous herbicide used to clear vast swathes of Vietnamese jungle.
Following the results of the study, Type 2 diabetes was added to a list of diseases for which veterans could receive compensation.
Since then there have been numerous studies released worldwide showing similar links, often between pesticides or herbicides and diabetes.
“DDT seems to be the most common one,” Hummel said, “and that’s in all of us now.”
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, the chemical name for an insecticide commonly known as DDT, was one of the most commonly used pesticides in the world between the ’40s and ’60s; it has proven effective both for agricultural purposes and for fighting malaria, which is transmitted by mosquitoes. It has since been proven to be extremely toxic to humans and has been illegal in many Western nations since the mid-’70s.
“It’s still being used in some malarial regions and it’s just building up in the ocean (over time),” Hummel added.
One of Hummel’s main concerns is that First Nations populations often suffer from diabetes.
According to a report released by the Environmental Stewardship Unit of the Assembly of First Nations in June 2009, diabetes is between three and five times more likely among First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in Canada. This number is so high that diet and lifestyle cannot fully explain it.
“As many environmental toxins bio-accumulate in the food chain and are found in the wild game and fish traditionally harvested and consumed by Aboriginal peoples, these chemicals could present health risks not yet fully explored,” writes the report’s author, Donald Sharp.
Industry transgressions pose a problem for both Aboriginal people and other groups. For example, a pulp mill near Dryden, Ont. dumped 10 tonnes of mercury into the Wabigoon River between 1962 and 1970. That pollution has since spread to Lake Winnipeg and the Winnipeg River and has caused health problems for the Grassy Narrows First Nation.
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