PORT HOPE - Hostile backlash on the heels of a report on uranium contamination in Port Hope residents has prompted the study's author to opt out of a local public information meeting.

Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) deputy director Tedd Weyman says harassment and threats of bodily harm both over the phone and by e-mail has forced him and his associates to back out of a public information session slated for Thursday, Nov. 22, at the Port Hope Lion's Recreation Centre. Faye More, chairwoman of the Port Hope Community Health Concerns Committee (PHCHCC), who contracted UMRC to conduct the study, says the meeting will be rescheduled when the appropriate experts are available.

"We (UMRC) don't want to be a part of that (exposing itself to harm)," says Mr. Weyman. "Let Health Canada, Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) sort this out."

At a Nov. 13 press conference held in Toronto, the PHCHCC released urine sample test results that showed uranium contamination within a small group (nine) of Port Hope residents. The UMRC report found chronic, long-term uranium contamination in the bodies of four Port Hope residents, former nuclear industry workers.

In recent correspondence with Health Canada, Media Relations Officer Joey Rathwell stated the highest uranium-in-urine concentration in the UMRC 'Radio-Biological Study Findings for Port Hope, Ontario' is 24.8 ng/L. This concentration level would give a radiation dose of 0.03 millisieverts (mSv), Mr. Rathwell said. The public dose limit due to releases from all nuclear facilities (including those in Port Hope) is one mSv per year year above background, he added.

The UMRC study tested nine subjects and two controls, he said. Uranium concentrations in the test subjects' urine ranged from 2.1 to 24.8 ng/L, with a quoted background concentration of 7 ng/L, he explained. He added background concentrations of uranium in urine are highly variable: tests of numerous Ottawa-area subjects give values ranging from three to 60 ng/L while American studies quote 35 ng/L for women and 53 ng/L for men (for the 95th percentile). Therefore, the reported results for all nine Port Hope subjects are within the range of natural background values, well below the public dose limit and highly unlikely to cause any ill health effects, stated Mr. Rathwell.

But Mr. Weyman says there is not enough information in the UMRC report (when the exposure occurred and the quantity, as examples) to allow for dose reconstruction. However, he says urine sample testing data is conclusive evidence some people in the study group are contaminated by insoluble industrial grade uranium from spent reactor fuel. Another test subject shows depleted uranium contamination a full 23 years after retirement from a local nuclear industry employer.

"Let's not argue dose models... we're talking long-term chronic contamination," says the UMRC deputy director. "Do you care if the uranium level is high or low"

The report results are the first objective, analytical study of long-term uranium contamination in Port Hope residents, a community whose contamination is known around the world, he says.

"When the town cools down, we (UMRC) will talk to the people of Port Hope," says Mr. Weyman. "We hope the federal agencies responsible for radiation protection will do the same."