The lung cancer incidence rate in Rouyn-Noranda between 2010 and 2014 was 145 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. It is now 121 cases per 100,000 population between 2015 and 2019. We were able to consult data up to 1985 and the incidence of lung cancer has never been so low in Rouyn-Noranda.

In Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the incidence of lung cancer over the same period is also 121 per 100,000 affected. In the Vallée-de-l’Or, the rate is significantly higher, at 134 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. All MRCs in the region are above the provincial average of 110.

In May 2022, the regional public health service released data showing that the percentage of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Abitibi-Témiscamingue was higher than the provincial average, that the incidence of lung cancer was significantly higher, and that low-birth-weight births were more numerous .

This data had worried many citizens, as well as many experts and doctors in Rouyn-Noranda, who had called for a rapid reduction in arsenic emissions from the Horne foundry.

In July 2022, a study by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ) estimated that between one in 14 residents of Rouyn-Noranda could be diagnosed with cancer if Horne Foundry did not reduce airborne arsenic levels.

In its assessment, INSPQ assessed cancer risks using a scenario where a person would be exposed to 165 nanograms of arsenic per cubic meter in the air.

Even more lung disease and low birth weight

As for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the available data are the same as in 2022. The prevalence rate peaked at 14.6% in Rouyn-Noranda in 2014-2015 and then gradually decreased to 13.5% in 2019-2020 return. This is still well above the national average of 9.1%.

For low birth weight births, the situation in Rouyn-Noranda is even worse. From 2017 to 2019, 8.1% of newborns were low birth weight, while the regional average is 6.9%. The provincial average is even lower at 6.1%.

In the new data published on March 31st by the CISSS de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, we see that from 2015 to 2019 the incidence rate of malignant tumors and breast cancer in women in Rouyn-Noranda is similar to the regional average.

The incidence of male prostate cancer in Rouyn-Noranda is the lowest among the region’s five MRCs. Only the incidence of colon cancer is slightly higher in Rouyn-Noranda, with 83 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 75 cases in all of Abitibi-Témiscamingue.