MONTREAL - A Quebec public health agency is disputing a link between a toxin from a Canadian military base and unusually high levels of cancer in a town near the province’s capital.
The courts are dealing with a class-action suit launched against the federal government by more than 700 current and past citizens of the community of Shannon.
They allege in the suit launched in 2003 that the chemical, an industrial cleaner known as trichloroethylene, or TCE, seeped into the town’s water supply.
Members of the group say the government knew about the toxin spill at CFB Valcartier for decades before revealing it to the public in 2000.
But according to Quebec’s public health institute, it would take a number of generations before a single case of cancer linked to the toxin cropped up within the population.
The agency recently made public three new studies on its website that dispute earlier studies by experts hired by the residents of Shannon.
None of the allegations in the lawsuit have been proven in court.
The military has said the risk of contaminated water was removed several years ago and maintained there has been no danger to the public since 2001.
