TOXIC: Officials start study by collecting frozen salmon from locals for lab tests.
Public health investigators this week are gathering chunks of drying salmon from fish camps outside Nome to learn if subsistence food is getting dusted with arsenic and mercury from a nearby road.
So far, the investigators haven't had much trouble getting Nomeites to sacrifice some of their food for science.
"Apparently, there was a lot of concern," said Rick Robinson, coordinator for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry's regional office in Seattle. The agency is part of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and investigates public health concerns related to hazardous waste sites.
Working with state health officials, Robinson is in Nome all week, accepting half-pound pieces of salmon from fish camp owners. The investigators are freezing the fish, in preparation for lab tests. Robinson is also collecting air and soil samples along the six-mile stretch of the historic Nome-Council highway, where the camps are located.
The dusty road was reportedly built out of mine tailings. The point of the study is to determine if dust from the road poses a health hazard, he said.
The investigation -- being coordinated with the state Department of Health and Social Services -- is focused on arsenic and mercury because the metals already have been found at historic mining sites in the Nome area. Arsenic is also naturally occurring in the ground. The two heavy metals can cause debilitating health problems if inhaled or ingested in sufficient quantities.
A Nome resident requested the testing in April. A panel of experts scrutinized the request before the agency agreed to come to Nome, Robinson said.
"We were able to find a real public health need and come up with resources to do the sampling," he said.
If the test results show risky amounts of heavy metals on the food or in the air and soil, the investigators will recommend ways to prevent human exposure, he said.
While Robinson declined to name the resident who requested the study, the Nome Nugget newspaper recently quoted a local resident, Karen McLane, saying she had requested it. In local news reports, McLane has also recently questioned plans for open-pit gold mining in the area, citing her worry over contamination.
This year, a handful of Nome residents, as well as federal regulators, pointed out that the Nome-Council road -- already very dusty -- could get even worse due to new mining development plans.
The fish camps are mostly located about 100 to 150 yards from the road, on either side, said Nim Ha, a state health department educator working with Robinson on the investigation.
NovaGold Resources Inc., a Canadian mining company, plans to build two open pits at the Big Hurrah mineral deposit, about 42 miles east of Nome. To get the ore to NovaGold's mill, the company plans to send heavy trucks up and down the Nome-Council Road.
"We know (dust) is an issue and we are working on it," said Donna Gardino, a state transportation planner for the Nome area.
The health investigators don't know whether the road is a source of contamination yet, but Robinson said the ATSDR and the state health department might have some answers in a few months.
The two agencies will publish a report detailing their findings, he said.
Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.
