Description
The Swan Hills Treatment Centre (SHTC) is a facility for the safe disposal of special wastes located approximately 12 km northeast of the town of Swan Hills, AB. On October 16, 1996, a malfunction of a transformer furnace was discovered to have caused the release of a portion of process gases containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) into the ambient air. These chemicals can be harmful to human health. Therefore, in 1997 Alberta Health (AH) conducted a human health risk assessment study to estimate human exposure and to evaluate the effectiveness of public health interventions. As a result of the study, food consumption advice for wild game and fish taken within a 30 km radius of the facility were issued out of concern that PCBs and PCDD/Fs were accumulating in these locally caught foods. A long-term environmental monitoring and human exposure assessment program has been ongoing since 1998 to monitor concentrations of PCBs and PCDD/Fs in wild game and fish. The purpose of this program is to review the existing food consumption advice in the context of ongoing fish and wild game test results to protect the health of local residents. Eight fish and seven wild game follow up sampling campaigns were conducted between 1997 and 2014. This dataset includes the concentrations of PCBs and PCDD/Fs in fish from 2000 to 2014 and in deer from 1999 to 2014. For additional information, refer to four project reports that have been posted on AH’s website (1997, 2004, 2009, and 2013). In 2012, the wild game advice was revised from limiting the consumption of game collected within a 30 km radius of the facility to game collected within a 15 km radius of the facility. This change was informed by the ongoing tissue monitoring and decreasing levels of contamination in wild game.
Updated
November 23, 2023
Tags
Resources
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Swan Hills Wild Game Tissue Column Descriptions
More information DownloadDownloads: 30
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Swan Hills Wild Game Tissue Dataset
More information DownloadDownloads: 15
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Swan Hills Fish Tissue Column Descriptions
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Swan Hills Fish Tissue Dataset
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Title and publication information
Alternative Title
Swan Hills Treatment Center: PCBs and PCDD/F in wild game and fish tissue (1999-2014)
Frequency
Once
Publisher / Creator Information
Subject Information
Topic
Spatial Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Start Date
1999-01-01
End Date
2014-12-31
Subject (LCSH)
Subject (LCSH)
Resource Dates
Date Created
2023-11-22
Date Added
2023-11-22T20:06:48.155314
Date Modified
2023-11-23
Date Issued
2023-11-23
Audience information
Language
Identifiers
Usage / Licence
Usage Considerations
Swan Hills Treatment Center: Long-Term Follow-up Human Health Risk Assessment is a long term monitoring program investigating the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in fish and wild game near the Swan Hills Treatment Center. The data and results from this program were used to conduct human health risk assessments and inform food consumption advisories by Alberta Health. Alberta Health managed the sample collection, laboratory analysis, data interpretation and release of final reports to the public.
These datasets contain information on the levels of 209 PCB congeners and 17 PCDD/F congeners measured in tissues. Fish muscle and liver tissues and deer muscle, liver and the fat tissues were collected within 30 km radius of the Swan Hills facility and reference sites between 1999 and 2014. In the Fish Sampling Information dataset, the Sample ID, year of collection, fish species and lake collected from are provided. In the Deer Sampling Information dataset, the sample IDs, year of collection, deer species, sex and collection distance from the facility are provided.
Laboratory analysis of fish and deer samples collected between 1999 and 2003 was conducted by the Fisheries and Oceans Regional Dioxin Laboratory at the Institute of Ocean Sciences. The methodology is published at: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/mpo-dfo/Fs97-6-2389-eng.pdf .
Laboratory analysis of fish and deer samples collected between 2007 and 2014 was conducted by the AXYS Analytic Services. PCDD/F analysis is based on the USEPA Methods 1613. PCB analysis is based on the USEPA Methods 1668A.
The data can be used by the public and by researchers to gain knowledge on contaminants in the environment.
Swan Hills Treatment Center: Long-Term Follow-up Human Health Risk Assessment is a long term monitoring program investigating the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in fish and wild game near the Swan Hills Treatment Center. The data and results from this program were used to conduct human health risk assessments and inform food consumption advisories by Alberta Health. Alberta Health managed the sample collection, laboratory analysis, data interpretation and release of final reports to the public. The published reports can be found here: https://open.alberta.ca/publications/0778500314.
These datasets contains information on the levels of 209 PCB congeners and 17 PCDD/F congeners measured in tissues. Fish muscle and liver tissues and deer muscle, liver and the fat tissues were collected within 30 km radius of the Swan Hills facility and reference sites between 1999 and 2014. In the Fish Sampling Information dataset, the Sample ID, year of collection, fish species and lake collected from are provided. In the Deer Sampling Information dataset, the sample IDs, year of collection, deer species, sex and collection distance from the facility are provided.
Laboratory analysis of fish and deer samples collected between 1999 and 2003 was conducted by the Fisheries and Oceans Regional Dioxin Laboratory at the Institute of Ocean Sciences. The methodology is published at: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2014/mpo-dfo/Fs97-6-2389-eng.pdf .
Laboratory analysis of fish and deer samples collected between 2007 and 2014 was conducted by the AXYS Analytic Services. PCDD/F analysis is based on the USEPA Methods 1613. PCB analysis is based on the USEPA Methods 1668A.
The data can be used by the public and by researchers to gain knowledge on contaminants in the environment.
Contact
Contact Name
Environmental Public Health Science Team