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A handful of lead-contaminated properties in Belledune are finally going to be cleaned up, but many more homeowners will be forced to live with lead contamination for the foreseeable future - levels of contamination that are considered unsafe in two Ontario communities afflicted with lead contamination. Why?

Environment Minister and the local MLA Roland Haché asked Xstrata Zinc (formerly Noranda) to recommend how much lead was too much in the yards and gardens of local residents. A team of consultants conducted a risk assessment and concluded that the safe level of lead in the soil was 500 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil or 500 parts per million (ppm). According to the study, only 24 properties exceed this level and therefore need to be cleaned up.

Two communities in Ontario have recently undergone similar studies. In 2007, the Ontario Ministry of Environment ordered a risk assessment for Port Colborne after high lead levels were found in residential properties adjacent to a former nickel smelter. The Ministry wanted to know what amount of lead in the soil would cause blood lead levels in children to exceed 10 micrograms/decilitre (ug/dl) - the Ministry's level of concern at the time.

In 2008, the Ontario Ministry of Environment again ordered a risk assessment after soil studies in Sudbury found lead concentrations greater than 200 ppm around one copper and two nickel smelters.

The Port Colborne assessment concluded that soil with lead concentrations of 333 ppm would result in a risk of 2.5 per cent of the children exceeding 10 ug/dl. The risk increased to 5 per cent when the soil lead levels rose to 406 ppm. If the guideline for lead in blood was 5 ug/dl (Ontario's proposed new level of concern), the safe level of lead in soil dropped to 163 ppm.

As for Sudbury, the study found that the risk of a child's blood lead level exceeding 10 ug/dl was below 0.2 per cent when soil lead levels ranged from 82 and 97 ppm. With a blood lead guideline of 5 ug/dl, the risk increased to 7.2 to 7.7 per cent. So what was it about the Belledune study that gave such different results from either the Port Colborne or Sudbury studies?

First, unlike Ontario where the environment department ordered the studies, New Brunswick's Environment Minister didn't order a children's risk assessment. He was content to let Xstrata dictate the terms of the study.

Second, Xstrata didn't ask the consultants to conduct a children's blood lead risk assessment in Belledune. Intrinsik (formerly CanTox), the consultants that did the Xstrata risk assessment, were more than capable of doing the assessment. They did the Port Colborne study.

Third, consultants do studies based on the terms dictated to them by industry or government. As the Ontario studies illustrate, what industry or governments ask consultants to do matters to the outcome of risk assessments.

What the Port Colborne and Sudbury studies confirm is that the soil quality guidelines set by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) are valid and meaningful indicators of health impacts. When the lead in residential soils exceeds 120 ppm - the CCME guideline - it's a health risk, particularly for children. Worldwide, health experts agree, no amount of lead in children's blood is considered safe.

The province knows that children living closest to the Belledune smelter have been found to have blood lead levels higher than children living further away in Petit-Rocher, Pointe-Verte and even some communities in Ontario. They know that wild berries and vegetables near the smelter have significantly higher lead levels than those grown in Fredericton and even in Port Colborne.

The province also knows that lobster caught in the vicinity of the smelter are still incinerated and there is a ban on shellfish harvesting due to high metal levels. They know that the average soil lead levels in the neighbourhoods close to the smelter are higher than in either Sudbury or Port Colborne. And, they know that the lead in the air in Belledune is higher than in Port Colborne and Sudbury.

So here is a simple question for New Brunswick's Minister of the Environment - how come two contaminated communities in Ontario, which are not even lead smelting communities, will get more health protection than Belledune?

Inka Milewski is science advisor and director of Health Watch.