PORT HOPE - Damage control is ramping up to high gear as Port Hope prepares to adopt aggressive action plans to counter misleading community health information released Canada-wide by special interest groups.

At the April 22 council meeting, Port Hope Mayor Linda Thompson said “enough is enough,” referring to last November’s joint Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee (PHCHCC)/Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) media event regarding “unsubstantiated” claims of uranium in the urine of Port Hope residents.

The resulting media frenzy has damaged the community’s reputation and negatively affected growth in the downtown business community, said Mayor Thompson. Although the municipality has taken numerous proactive steps the counter the damage, Port Hope has decided to hire a communications firm to help address negative publicity and expand its marketing programs, she explained.

“Despite repeated scientific assurances on the issue, special interest groups like these (PHCHCC and UMRC) would like us all to believe unsubstantiated claims, even when those claims have been refuted by respected scientific experts and health authorities,” said Mayor Thompson.

Yet UMRC continues to misrepresent the scientific meaning of their test results, most recently in a March 1 letter to the Federal Minister of Health, she explained. Once again, Health Canada responded “all of your (UMRC) uranium concentration measurements from people living in Port Hope are consistent with the previous studies by Health Canada and by other groups,” she noted.

Unfortunately, these groups have had some success in tarnishing Port Hope’s reputation and downtown businesses report a distressing turnaround in business growth due to a drop of visitors people since the Toronto media blitz, the mayor explained.

Ms. Thompson said, from past experience, she knows some people in the community will not be deterred by facts alone. She said she is worried about the next target, citing the Port Hope Area Initiative (PHAI), the federally-funded project for the clean-up and long-term storage of the community’s historic low-level radioactive waste, as a possible example.

“Let’s hope not,” said Mayor Thompson. “We need to move forward with the clean-up. If anything, we need to accelerate the pace of the project.”

Low-level Radioactive Waste Management Office (LLRWMO) spokeswoman Sue Stickley said there have been five recent petitions to the Auditor General’s office with hundreds of questions regarding the PHAI. The questions must be vetted through staff of various federal ministries with LLRWMO assistance to prepare responses — a time-consuming process, said Ms. Stickley. She stressed it is the right of every citizen to ask questions about the PHAI and added she would not characterize the validity of any of the recent queries. However, she noted in some cases, the questions have been answered before, and in some cases, “many, many times before.”

Mayor Thompson noted she does not want the clean-up unnecessarily delayed by unsubstantiated allegations that serve only to divert PHAI staff from their work on the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) license submission for the clean-up.

“Such tactics have been used on other projects to delay progress and I am concerned that it is happening to the PHAI,” said the mayor.

Since November, Port Hope has taken numerous steps to counter the damage done, including ongoing dialogue with senior levels of governments and community partners for substantial financial assistance to get Port Hope’s positive message out; an expanded ‘Shop Port Hope’ marketing campaign with more local and regional print, radio, television and Internet advertising; and distribution of over 5,000 brochures promoting local events through the Capitol Arts Program.

But more costly intervention is necessary, she said. News coverage across the country must be monitored to ensure false claims about the community are challenged and corrected. Hiring a communications firm to assist is a necessary part of Port Hope’s damage control plan, she added.

Port Hope is an engaged community and it is good to ask questions, stressed Mayor Thompson. However, when answers are given and the debate is concluded, it’s time to move on.

“Port Hope is wonderful, vibrant, healthy and safe community and the time has come to refocus energy where it belongs — on building and growing rather than fending off the fear mongers,” she concluded.