Air quality in Rouyn-Noranda | Dr. Arruda allegedly withheld information

Public Health had known since 2019 that cases of lung cancer were more frequent in Rouyn-Noranda than elsewhere in Quebec, but Doctor Horacio Arruda would have intervened to withhold this information.

Jean-Thomas Léveillé
The Press

These data, which were finally released last May, could have been released two and a half years earlier had it not been for the intervention of the person who at the time was assistant deputy minister in the Department of Health and Social Services of Quebec and national director of public health, reported Radio-Canada, Monday.

They appeared in appendix 6 of the Report of the biomonitoring study conducted in the fall of 2018 on lead, cadmium and arsenic impregnation of young children in the Notre-Dame district of Rouyn-Norandadisclosed in September 2019.

This appendix pointed out that arsenic, which is very present in the air of the city due to emissions from the Horne Foundry, “is an aggravating factor favoring the development of lung cancer”, indicates Radio-Canada, which says it has obtained some copy.

The Public Health Department (DSPu) of Abitibi-Témiscamingue wanted to communicate this information to the population, but the D^r Arruda would have requested and obtained that this appendix be removed from the report, also claiming to act as an adviser to the Minister Delegate for Health and Social Services Lionel Carmant and not as national director of public health, says Radio-Canada.

The move was said to have been made to distinguish the study’s findings on young children from information on adult health, which was to be published later, explained to The Press Minister Carmant’s office, denying any involvement in this file.

“The D.^r Arruda was not acting as an adviser to Minister Carmant,” said his press secretary Lambert Drainville, refusing to comment further out of respect for the “independence” of the Directorate General of Public Health.

“There are questions that will need answers,” he added.

Horacio Arruda and his successor, the D^r Luc Boileau, had not responded to interview requests from The Press at the time of publishing these lines.