ABOUT THE PHCHCC

About The PHCHCC
The Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee (PHCHCC) is an incorporated nonprofit community organization which was established in 1995 by a number of residents concerned about possible health impacts from. Past and present exposure to the contaminants in the local environment.

Voting membership is open to current and former residents of Port Hope and the immediate area who are 18 years of age and over, and who support the objective of the Committee to implement comprehensive, independent health studies of the people who have lived in the community.

The Committee is governed by a Board of Directors elected annually by the membership. An annual financial statement is produced each year by a chartered accountant. A local law firm donates its services as required.

This committee of local residents came together more than six years ago and has been working since then with professionals from various disciplines and from various government departments, universities and private practice in an effort to implement the studies necessary to determine if exposure to the contaminants has had, or is likely to have health impacts on residents.

A comprehensive assessment requires carefully constructed multiple studies due to the lengthy time period of exposures, the variety of contaminants and their locations, individual histories and the number of potential health impacts.

The Goal of the PHCHCC...
Is to produce a comprehensive independent health assessment of past and current residents in order to determine if long term exposure to radioactive and heavy metal contaminants from sixty years of nuclear industry operations in the town has impacted or is likely to impact on the health of the people.

Funding of The PHCHCC
In 1996 the PHCHCC received a grant from Federal Health Canada through the Great Lakes Health Effects Program to produce a health study design for Port Hope. Then in 2000 and in 2002 the PHCHCC received two grants from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. These grants have assisted us to achieve health studies for our community. The members of the Committee are grateful for their support.

At the present time The PHCHCC is Fundraising for the Port Hope Radio-biological Studies Project with the UMRC.  

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PHCHCC Activities
Port Hope Radio-biological Studies Project :
2004 - Present
A joint project of the Community Health Concerns Committee (PHCHCC) and the Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) More Information

Tracking Residents prior to 1980
A list has been developed and completed documenting over 500 residents whom have lived in Port Hope over a thirty year period. This list was complied using public sources such as phone directories, assessment roles and school yearbooks. In the future this list will be utilized in applying a comprehensive health survey tool to assess potential impacts on former residents.

Interviews
An independent team has completed interviewing current and former residents who wished to have their experiences of living and/or working in Port Hope documented.

The PHCHCC Newspaper Archives
The Archives are valuable historical correspondence, reports and other information have been catalogued (with a grant from the Trillium Fund) for the Committee and public use. 1400 pages of newspaper clippings spanning over 30 years were organized into four volumes located in the reference department of The Port Hope Public Library.

Other Ongoing Activities
Sharing information with the public, seeking funding for implementing health proposals, committees meetings, liaising with key stakeholders and maintaining this website.

November 15, 2005 Letter from the Chair On behalf of the members of the volunteer Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee I am asking for your support to help us reach our fundraising goal of $25,000 for health study activities in Port Hope. "The limited available health study results for Port Hope in recent years indicate disturbing disease trends that merit further investigation according to epidemiologist Dr. Eric Mintz. But so far, the federal government has refused to fund comprehensive, independent health studies as we have been asking for, but continues to license two nuclear industries with emissions in our town saying there should be no significant harm to us or our environment." Now, with the donated expertise of the Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC), a charitable organization with international scientific and medical experience in uranium contamination, our community has an opportunity to independently investigate and determine if individuals have become internally contaminated with uranium from their exposures in Port Hope. The work of UMRC and Dr. Asaf Durakovic, Director, has been published in over 200 scientific and medical journals. To learn more about their international research and expertise please view www. UMRC.net. The first phase involves biological testing of a small number of current or former Port Hope residents, some individuals who live outside of the area as well as some environmental testing. The most significant program costs relate to detailed laboratory analysis of all samples with state-of-the-art equipment. Your contribution is vitally important for us to learn more about the possible health impacts of the uranium in our environment. Please consider giving generously to this worthwhile cause and thank you, Yours sincerely, Faye More Chair, PHCHCC Click here to view donation form - Thank you

What Types of Health Studies Are Needed?

A broad community health survey of current and former residents.

Case control and cohort epidemiological studies.

Biological testing of exposed residents.

In-depth analysis and mapping of contaminant and health risk assessments.

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