PICTURE BUTTE, Alta. – The Chinook Health Region wants to know if local health problems could be related to intensive livestock practices in the Lethbridge area.
The health board is conducting a survey asking people if they have breathing problems, stomach upset, headaches or have been affected by noise, dust from heavy traffic leading to farms or if they notice water contamination.
They are also asked to rate the value the feeder industry brings to their community.
The health authority has proposed an intensive livestock manure management policy for its region which covers a large share of southwestern Alberta. Coincidently the same region harbors the most concentrated agriculture production in Canada.
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Paul Hasselback, a physician and vice-president of the Chinook Health Region, said the board is concerned about the concentration of these farms.
“There are many people who have expressed to us they feel their health is adversely affected by exposure to agricultural practices,” Hasselback said.
“There are people with perceived health concerns. Perceived health concerns to us have to be interpreted as real health concerns until we can prove otherwise.”
Reduced water quality
There is some evidence that agriculture has degraded surface water supplies and some fear groundwater contamination is next.
During a public meeting in Picture Butte the doctor said they don’t know how serious the hazards are or if there is a genuine risk to human health.
The most common human pathogens associated with water quality problems are E.coli 0157H7, campylobacter, salmonella and the parasite cryptosporidium. Last year in Kelowna, B.C. more than 750 people were affected by this parasitic outbreak, which causes severe gastrointestinal upsets and could be fatal.
