The young generations of Grassy Narrows and another nearby First Nation community have a “surprisingly” high rate of mercury poisoning symptoms, according to leading Japanese researchers.

The research team, which examined dozens of people of all ages in both communities during a 2014 trip, found that nearly all those tested had sensory disturbance — a telltale sign of mercury poisoning that includes a loss of sensation in the hands or feet and around the mouth. That rate is “extremely high,” according to a report released by the researchers Tuesday.

“This is a new finding,” Dr. Masanori Hanada told the Star through a translator. “I think Canadian doctors and Canadian officials should start looking at (this issue).” His team is a world leader in the study of mercury poisoning.

Hanada, 64, and his team have been to Grassy Narrows and nearby Whitedog First Nation six times since 2004 and he said that federal and provincial officials have shown little interest in their work. The Japanese team funded its own research.

A Health Canada spokesperson told the Star that they have requested a copy of Hanada’s report and did not comment further. A provincial health ministry spokesperson said the government takes the mercury problem seriously and that a working group of community, provincial and federal representatives met with the doctor’s team in 2014.

Hanada said that during his most recent weeklong research visit, in September 2014, there was a large turnout of concerned residents — particularly young people — who wanted to be tested.

“We thought these young people would have less or no effect from the mercury poisoning,” Hanada said. “What that explains is low poisoning rates still can affect their health.”

A recent report written by another leading mercury expert found that mercury poisoning occurs at low levels previously thought harmless.

This report, by Dr. Donna Mergler of Quebec, focused on cord blood taken from at least 300 Grassy Narrows and Whitedog newborns between 1978 and 1992. The mercury levels in the cord blood were high enough to affect the brain development of children, Mergler found.

The Star recently reported that Health Canada is withholding from the community the identities of the test subjects, who are now young adults and could have been among Hanada’s recent test subjects.

Between 1962 and 1970 a Dryden, Ont., pulp and paper plant dumped 10 tonnes of mercury, a potent neurotoxin, in the English-Wabigoon River. Grassy Narrows and Whitedog, communities of roughly 1,500, are 100 km downstream from the site of the old mill. Yet another recent scientific report on the issue has cautioned that mercury levels in fish — a main food staple for the two communities — and sediment in the area are still dangerously high. The levels suggest there could be an ongoing source leaking into the river.

During their 2014 visit, Hanada and his researchers tested 43 people of all ages in Grassy Narrows and 41 people in Whitedog. According to their report, nine out of every 10 people tested had sensory disturbance. Sensory disturbances also include trouble differentiating between two points on the body prodded with a pin or other object.

That percentage is “extremely high,” the report said. People from a place not contaminated by mercury would be expected to test for sensory disturbance at a rate of only two to three per cent of those tested, Hanada told the Star.

The report calls for more testing, but notes “these numbers indicate that a large portion of the population has health impairments due to the effects of mercury.”

Of those tested by Hanada and his team, nearly 30 were from younger generations, born in the decades after the mill stopped dumping mercury in the river (young children to millennials in their 30s). “Surprisingly, high rates of sensory disturbances can also be seen in young generations,” the report says.

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“It’s very sad. Our country doesn’t realize or recognize that there is a problem here,” Whitedog Chief John Paishk told the Star.

Hanada is the co-founder of the Research Centre for Minamata Studies in Japan, which he established with his mentor Dr. Masazumi Harada, who first started studying Grassy Narrows in 1975. Minamata disease — also known as methylmercury poisoning — was first discovered in 1956 in Japan and takes its name from the area around Minamata city. Illnesses there were linked to the industrial waste water from a chemical factory that dumped between 200 and 600 tonnes of mercury into the water system.

Harada, who died in 2012 of leukemia, had published several books on the subject of mercury poisoning and in 2004 received the Global 500 prize from the United Nations for his work.

When Harada first came to Canada in 1975 he found people with mercury levels over three times the Health Canada limit in Grassy Narrows and seven times the limit in Whitedog. When Harada returned in 2004, all of the people who tested over the limit were dead.

Another study by Harada published in 2005 showed 79 per cent of 175 people tested in those two communities in 2002 and 2004 had or may have had Minamata disease.

More than 300 people have qualified for compensation from the Mercury Disability Board since its inception. The board was set up in 1985 by industry and the federal and provincial governments and looks for “symptoms consistent with” mercury poisoning. It has approved a total of about $20 million in payouts. Monthly payments range between $250 to $800 per month (these payments have not risen with the cost of inflation).

Hanada told the Star that the criterion the board uses to determine who qualifies for a payout is outdated. His report says that almost no doctors in Canada have experience diagnosing mercury poisoning. (In a 2011 report, the Japanese experts found 74 per cent of people they diagnosed as impacted or possibly impacted by mercury were not receiving any form of compensation.)

“They should learn from Japanese experts and doctors,” Hanada said.

The Mercury Disability Board did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

Hanada also noted that studying mercury in China or the Amazon, where there are also cases, is not possible because of political clamp downs and other access issues. This is why, Hanada said, learning more about the issue in Canada also has global implications.

Correction – September 20, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the communities of Grassy Narrows and Whitedog are upstream from the site of the old paper mill in Dryden, Ont.

David Bruser can be reached at (416) 869-4282 or dbruser@thestar.ca