The founder of the McIntyre Powder Project has now published her findings in the United States.
Janice Martell founded the project in 2015, which is a voluntary registry of over 500 affected miners to document health issues who were exposed to McIntyre Powder aluminum dust in their workplaces in the latter half of the 1900s.
She started researching McIntyre Powder in 2011 when the family filed her Dad’s WSIB claim for Parkinson’s. However, it wasn’t until they withdrew his claim in 2014 (after it had been denied twice) that she began in-depth research establishing the McIntyre Powder Project in 2015. They withdrew his claim in 2014 because there was no way of succeeding due to a WSIB Policy that automatically denied claims with neurological disorders based on occupational aluminum exposure.
The work requirement has been recognized as a leading cause of ailments and even death in miners and other industries around the globe, thanks to her efforts.
She says the article is important in acknowledging those workers and how their stories resulted in McIntyre Powder being recognized leading to compensation and care.
Martel says the article that was published in August in New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, out of California and the information will be distributed throughout medical circles for the benefit of physicians and patients alike.
Her co-author, Dr. Tee Guidotti, is an internationally recognized expert on occupational diseases, particularly lung diseases.
A link to the article is below. It’s called “Trading one risk for another: consequences of the unauthenticated treatment and prevention of silicosis in Ontario miners in the McIntyre Powder aluminum inhalation program”.
Her speech presentation at the Elliot Lake Miner’s Monument last Friday: Elliot Lake Miners’ Memorial wall Induction ceremony – Sept 3, 2021