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McIntyre Powder researchers and JFIW bike riders coming to Elliot Lake May 25 & 26, 2018!
29-Mar-2018
The McIntyre Powder Project is thrilled to host expert researchers and Justice for Injured Workers cyclists for FREE public information and reception events in Elliot Lake and Massey, Ontario on May 25 & 26, 2018.
Details below! This will be of special interest to mine worker and their families, health care providers, and researchers, along with community members in general. Opportunity for learning, questions, discussion, and participation in displays highlighting occupational disease and McIntyre Powder miners' memorial.
Friday, May 25th - Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre (Theatre), 255 Hwy 108, Elliot Lake, Ontario
1-4 p.m. FREE public Seminar: "Occupational Disease in Mining and McIntyre Powder Research"
Presentation Schedule:
1 to 2 p.m. McIntyre Powder Project & Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers (OHCOW)
Janice Martell, Dave Wilken
o History of the McIntyre Powder aluminum prophylaxis program
o Updates on McIntyre Powder-exposed worker group at OHCOW
2 to 3 p.m. Occupational Cancer Research Centre – Cancer Care Ontario
Dr. Paul Demers, Dr. Victoria Arrandale
o Occupational disease in mining
o Study of McIntyre Powder-exposed mine workers and neurological disorders
3 to 3:30 p.m. Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Laurentian University
Dr. Douglas Boreham, Andrew Zarnke, PhD candidate, Dr. Christopher Thome
o Radon and McIntyre Powder
3:30 to 4 p.m. Wrap-Up, Justice for Injured Workers Bike Ride, Announcements
o Opportunity for further questions from audience
o Announcements for evening events and 2018 Justice for Injured Workers bike ride
Friday, May 25th - Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre (Theatre), 255 Hwy 108, Elliot Lake, Ontario
7-9 p.m. RECEPTION EVENT for the 2018 JFIW Bike Ride - FREE, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! All are welcome.
- Welcome to the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups (ONIWG)'s cyclists for the 2018 Justice for Injured Workers Bike Ride
- Workers Comp Is a Right campaign
- McIntyre Powder Project - Overview and In Memoriam
Friday, May 25th - Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre (LOBBY outside Theatre), Elliot Lake, Ontario
MEMORIAL DISPLAY & INFORMATION TABLES: The lobby outside the Civic Centre theatre will host information tables and memorial displays dedicated to mining, occupational disease awareness, and the Workers Comp Is A Right campaign. FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
SIGN THE MINERS' COVERALLS: A set of miners' coveralls will become a memorial display bearing the names of mine workers who are living with or have died with an occupational disease. Travelling to Timmins, Elliot Lake, Massey, and Sudbury in May 2018 - and to Queen's Park in Toronto for Injured Workers Day on June 1, 2018 - these coveralls will bring awareness to occupational diseases in the mining industry. Any mine worker living with an occupational disease can sign their name on the coveralls OR their names can be signed by family members of mine workers who died with an occupational disease.
VIEW & CONTRIBUTE TO MEMORIAL ALBUM: The McIntyre Powder Project's MEMORIAL ALBUM will be at all events in May. Family members of deceased McIntyre Powder-exposed mine workers can contribute photos or stories to the memorial album, which is open to the public and media.
Saturday, May 26th - 7 a.m. Miners' Memorial Park, Elliot Lake
7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jim Hobbs Memorial Ride - 2018 JFIW bike ride from Elliot Lake to Massey
Starts: 7 a.m. - Elliot Lake Miners' Memorial Park- Hwy 108 North (600 metres north of Hampton Inn)
Ends: 1 p.m. - Massey Arena, 455 Government Road, Massey, Ontario
Reception event and public presentation follows at Massey Arena from 1-3 p.m.
The McIntyre Powder Project and members of the Jim Hobbs family and Massey community will welcome the 2018 JFIW cyclists as they arrive from Elliot Lake. Information, memorial display, and FREE public presentation on McIntyre Powder Project and Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups.
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On March 7, 2017, the McIntyre Powder Project and the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, Inc. (OHCOW) will be presenting information about mine workers who were exposed to aluminum dust, to an international conference of scientific researchers of aluminum. It is hoped that this meeting will result in research partnerships between OHCOW and scientists, to help determine if there are any associations between occupational aluminum dust exposure and health issues. Our presentation abstract (summary) is below:
PLATFORM 26
The McIntyre Powder Project: A retrospective study of the health effects of respirable aluminum dust in a cohort of Ontario miners
Martell, Janice1 ; Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, Inc.
1. Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, Inc.
Between 1943 and 1980, at least 20,000 miners were treated prophylactically with McIntyre Powder – a finely ground, respirable dust comprised of 85% aluminum oxide and 15% elemental aluminum. No other group has been exposed to aluminum in this form, intensity, duration, or by similar route of administration (an inhalable, airborne suspension). The only two clinical studies ever conducted on this specific group of workers both supported putative neurologic effects of McIntyre Powder exposure. Over an 18-month period, an informal voluntary registry of 322 exposed workers was compiled by the daughter of a McIntyre Powder-exposed miner – 65% of exposed workers had respiratory diagnoses or symptoms, and 33% had neurological disorders or symptoms. Based on these preliminary findings, a database of exposed mine workers is being compiled by the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers to investigate the causal relationship between McIntyre Powder exposure and adverse health outcomes.
Acknowledgements
Archives of Ontario, Laurentian University Labour Studies Program, Elliot Lake Nuclear & Mining Museum, Office of the Worker Advisor, Ontario Public Service Employees Union, Sudbury and District Labour Council, Timmins and District Labour Council, Timmins Museum, United Steelworkers District 6. We thank the volunteers at the McIntyre Powder Intake Clinics. We thank the miners and their survivors for participating. We thank the media for their interest in this story, with special thanks to The Fifth Estate.