Image: Green Party
Questions persist on the cause of a mystery brain illness impacting 48 New Brunswickers since 2013.
Six people have died from the neurological disorder with cases identified so far in the southeastern and northeastern parts of the province.
Memramcook-Tantramar Green Party MLA Megan Mitton asked for a public briefing from the province to update everyone on what the government knows about this illness.
“So far it sounds like the Minister of Health is not planning to hold a briefing however, I think that it is important that they lay out publicly as much information as possible.
I know they don’t have all the answers. I do think there is some more information that could be shared,” Mitton said.
Mitton wants to confirm with the Minister of Environment if they are in full cooperation with the Federal department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on monitoring for neurotoxins in our coastal environment.
“According to reporting in the Washington Post and the BBC, some of the possible environmental toxins that could be blamed for this unknown neurological disease. BMMA which is cyanobacteria commonly known as blue-green algae or domoic acid and we know that domoic acid caused a food poisoning incident in mussels in PEI in 1987. I know there is a long list of what it could be and it sounds like those are at the top. I wanted to make sure that the federal government is playing its part as well,” Mitton said.
During Friday’s provincial COVID-19 briefing, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard was asked about this.
“There is no information being held back. The work with interviews is going to start next week. This is going to be extensive work,” Shephard said.
In April, the provincial government established a webpage to share information about the mystery brain illness.
