Rage. Just in time for National Aboriginal Day.
Our story begins in 1993 in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, a Native American enclave near the Canadian city of Sarnia, Ontario. It was in that year that the Aamjiwnaang tribal registry recorded a slight anomaly. There were a few more girls born than there should have been, and a few less boys as a result.
No one thought much about it at the time. After all, flukes like this appear once in a while, only to be corrected at a later date by a similar but opposite blip on the statistical radar. But in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, that blip never occurred. Instead, the gap in the birth ratio of girls to boys kept growing.
Historically, male and female births run just about even around the world, with a slight numerical advantage given to males. In normal circumstances, there are about 106 boys born for every 100 girls. In the days immediately following conception, this ratio is even higher and runs approximately 120 males to 100 females in the womb. Scientists believe that these pre- and post-birth ratios evolved to compensate for the fact that male fetuses are more fragile than female fetuses, and males typically experience higher mortality rates once born.
Among the Aamjiwnaang, however, the situation has been inexplicably reversed. In the last decade, annual female births have outnumbered male births by a ratio of two, and sometimes nearly three to one. Last year, for example, the ratio was 9 boys to 19 girls. In 2002, it was 6 boys to 15 girls.
An odd skewing of sex ratios is not the only sign that something is amiss in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. An unusual number of women have experienced multiple miscarriages, and in the local elementary system, an abnormally large number of children have been diagnosed as developmentally delayed.
What’s causing all this reproductive and developmental mayhem? Many residents and scientists alike point to the glow of refinery towers and chemical plants that march in a line to the very edge of the 14 square kilometer tribal reserve and virtually surround it. On the borders of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation are facilities operated by Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, Dupont, Dow Chemical, and many other companies. In fact, Sarnia is home to 20% of Canada’s refineries and the source of 40% of its petrochemicals.
From their porches and windows, community members watch as plant employees work in helmeted "moon suits" while they themselves stand unprotected mere yards away. Complaints about noxious fumes are constant, and each section of the reserve seems to have its own peculiar smell ranging from rotten eggs to decaying turnips.
The Aamjiwnaang First Nation is also immediately downriver from the site of the infamous Sarnia Blob, a giant mass of heavier-than-water perchloroethylene and sediment found at the bottom of the St. Clair River in 1985. This same river is also a site where scientists have found a variety of male wildlife species with hermaphroditic qualities.
It’s no wonder, then, that tests of a local creek that passes through the Aamjiwnaang reserve show high levels of a wide variety of chemical toxins, including PCBs and hexachlorobenzene, both of which have been implicated in female birth overages. Earlier this year, the provincial government even sent an emergency environmental response team to Sarnia due to an inordinate number of chemical spills. More troubling still, in December of 1993, the year tribal records indicate that sex ratios began to deviate, the reserve had an emergency evacuation. The cause? A fire and chemical release at the adjacent Suncor plant.
So far all the evidence has been classified as circumstantial and calls have gone out for further research. In the meantime, the residents of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation and many environmental activists are left to wonder: How specific must the evidence be and how much more of it is needed before the powers that be connect the chemical dots and do what must be done?
I looked for information on this story I saw on CBC last night, but this was the closest thing.
The story is the Aamjiwnaang tribe keeps the plants on their reserve for financial reasons, its causing disease and reproductive disorders in Aamjiwnaang women, causing an imbalance of girls outnumbering boys in population. And of course the government is doing nothing about it and the companies arent moving.
You really have to love the racist white hegemony and blatant misogeny here.....
EDIT: Ive seen the plants myself, since we drive through Sarnia to see Niagara Falls. Until now I didnt know anyone even lived near the plants. They smell horrible.
No one thought much about it at the time. After all, flukes like this appear once in a while, only to be corrected at a later date by a similar but opposite blip on the statistical radar. But in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation, that blip never occurred. Instead, the gap in the birth ratio of girls to boys kept growing.
Historically, male and female births run just about even around the world, with a slight numerical advantage given to males. In normal circumstances, there are about 106 boys born for every 100 girls. In the days immediately following conception, this ratio is even higher and runs approximately 120 males to 100 females in the womb. Scientists believe that these pre- and post-birth ratios evolved to compensate for the fact that male fetuses are more fragile than female fetuses, and males typically experience higher mortality rates once born.
Among the Aamjiwnaang, however, the situation has been inexplicably reversed. In the last decade, annual female births have outnumbered male births by a ratio of two, and sometimes nearly three to one. Last year, for example, the ratio was 9 boys to 19 girls. In 2002, it was 6 boys to 15 girls.
An odd skewing of sex ratios is not the only sign that something is amiss in the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. An unusual number of women have experienced multiple miscarriages, and in the local elementary system, an abnormally large number of children have been diagnosed as developmentally delayed.
What’s causing all this reproductive and developmental mayhem? Many residents and scientists alike point to the glow of refinery towers and chemical plants that march in a line to the very edge of the 14 square kilometer tribal reserve and virtually surround it. On the borders of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation are facilities operated by Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, Dupont, Dow Chemical, and many other companies. In fact, Sarnia is home to 20% of Canada’s refineries and the source of 40% of its petrochemicals.
From their porches and windows, community members watch as plant employees work in helmeted "moon suits" while they themselves stand unprotected mere yards away. Complaints about noxious fumes are constant, and each section of the reserve seems to have its own peculiar smell ranging from rotten eggs to decaying turnips.
The Aamjiwnaang First Nation is also immediately downriver from the site of the infamous Sarnia Blob, a giant mass of heavier-than-water perchloroethylene and sediment found at the bottom of the St. Clair River in 1985. This same river is also a site where scientists have found a variety of male wildlife species with hermaphroditic qualities.
It’s no wonder, then, that tests of a local creek that passes through the Aamjiwnaang reserve show high levels of a wide variety of chemical toxins, including PCBs and hexachlorobenzene, both of which have been implicated in female birth overages. Earlier this year, the provincial government even sent an emergency environmental response team to Sarnia due to an inordinate number of chemical spills. More troubling still, in December of 1993, the year tribal records indicate that sex ratios began to deviate, the reserve had an emergency evacuation. The cause? A fire and chemical release at the adjacent Suncor plant.
So far all the evidence has been classified as circumstantial and calls have gone out for further research. In the meantime, the residents of the Aamjiwnaang First Nation and many environmental activists are left to wonder: How specific must the evidence be and how much more of it is needed before the powers that be connect the chemical dots and do what must be done?
I looked for information on this story I saw on CBC last night, but this was the closest thing.
The story is the Aamjiwnaang tribe keeps the plants on their reserve for financial reasons, its causing disease and reproductive disorders in Aamjiwnaang women, causing an imbalance of girls outnumbering boys in population. And of course the government is doing nothing about it and the companies arent moving.
You really have to love the racist white hegemony and blatant misogeny here.....
EDIT: Ive seen the plants myself, since we drive through Sarnia to see Niagara Falls. Until now I didnt know anyone even lived near the plants. They smell horrible.