By Jonathan Charlton
jonathan@peicanada.com

Montague Town Council was asked at its Committee of Council meeting recently to endorse and provide local logistical support for the biggest cancer research project in Atlantic Canadian history.
Tony Loring represented the Atlantic chapter of the Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health, a research project that aims to follow the health of 300,000 people in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada over the next 30 years to learn how genetics, the environment, lifestyle and behaviour contribute to the development of cancer.
Atlantic Canada has one of the highest rates of cancer in the country, but it’s not clear why. Thirty thousand Atlantic Canadians aged 18-69 are asked to participate by completing a questionnaire, taking some basic measurements and providing samples of toenail clippings and, optionally, blood. The deadline is the end of March.
Mr Loring said the researchers are asking community groups and businesses to recruit co-ordinators to find volunteers and help ensure those packages are returned.
So far about 18,000 to 20,000 people have bee recruited in Atlantic Canada and research has already begun, Mr Loring said.
“We’ve been mapping out arsenic levels in people’s drinking water, and also in their toenails, and we’re creating maps to pinpoint where the arsenic levels are the highest and things like that. So as the data is ready to be released, it will be. People don’t have to wait 30 years to start seeing the benefits."
There would be no financial cost to the town to participate.
CAO Andy Daggett volunteered to work with Kate Zarins at Grant Thornton, who is organizing her company’s local participation, to make a plan and present it to council at its February council meeting.
More information can be found at atlanticpath.ca or 1-877-285-7284.