The Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MP is pushing for answers after a water experiment in Wiarton. Larry Miller says he is working with South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Gwen Gilbert on their next course of action. Miller is disappointed by a federal court decision that the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) was not bound to investigate the University of Toronto’s chlorine dioxide experiment in Wiarton. In 2000, University of Toronto researchers tested the usefulness of chlorine dioxide instead of chlorine as a disinfectant in the town’s water. Miller says the decision is frustrating because its appears the researchers did not include some of the negative effects of the experiment in their report. There were alleged incidents of bleached clothing and the death of small pets after drinking the water. Residents also complained that the water tasted and smelled bad. Miller says there should be greater accountability for publicly funded research. He says if public money funds experiments in our communities, then the public needs to know all of the results. Federal Court Justice John A. O’Keefe ruled recently that the federal funding agency, NSERC, did not directly fund the Wiarton experiment and was not compelled to order an investigation.
