(Quebec) The Ordre des chimistes du Québec (OCQ) is calling for a motion in the National Assembly to challenge the validity of the data unveiled by the Ministry of Education on the levels of lead in school water.
The OCQ said it asked all members of the House to adopt a motion so that all water intakes in schools, which have been tested by a portable device and which have received a negative result, be condemned until that the government conduct accredited laboratory testing.
The organization argued in a press release “significant risks of false negatives inherent in the use of portable devices.”
According to the OCQ, their use for screening for the presence of excessive lead in water “may be convenient, but in no way asserts that the water can be drunk without significant risk”.
“We insist heavily on the importance of leaving aside all partisanship on the side of elected officials of the National Assembly, and putting the safety of our school staff and our children above all else with regard to the consumption of drinking water, ”said Michel Alsayegh, president of the Ordre des chimistes du Québec.
According to data released last Friday by the ministry, more than a third of fountains and taps in public schools in Quebec contain too much lead and about two thirds “meet Health Canada’s new recommendation of five micrograms of lead per liter of water. (5 µg / L) ”.
The press release stated that “all schools in Quebec are secure”.
Already on Saturday, the Ordre des chimistes du Québec questioned the method used by the government and the validity of the results obtained.
According to Alsayegh, the “accredited, known and certified” method for analyzing metals in water is to perform the analysis with a “laboratory instrument and send the samples to an accredited laboratory”, as a decided to do it the Montreal School Service Center, the former Montreal School Board (CSDM).
“In this case, we know that it is a result beyond any doubt,” said Mr. Alsayegh in an interview on Saturday.
For schools that have instead used the Kemio Heavy Metals device prescribed by the government, the President of the Order of Chemists recommends having all the tests that conclude in the absence of lead contamination in the water to be validated in the laboratory. .