Awareness is growing about the work an Elliot Lake woman is doing to have aluminum dust recognized as a cause of neurological diseases among former miners. Miners had to inhale the dust decades ago before going underground as a way to prevent silicosis.
The practice was stopped when it was shown aluminum dust doesn’t prevent the lung disease. Janice Martell has been holding information meetings to raise awareness about her work and she says her effort is paying off. Martell held two more information sessions in Elliot Lake and Massey recently and signed 24 more names to her volunteer pre-registry of miners who inhaled the dust.
That takes the area total number to 303 names. At the moment, the WSIB does not recognize neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s as being caused by breathing in aluminum dust.
