Dangerous dust

Scientists testing soapstone carvers

Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (Mar 07/01) - As stone carvers in the North slice through soapstone and shave beautifully fashioned polar bears or whale hunters, they may be breathing in hazardous dust.

Just how damaging the dust is remains unknown, but a team of scientists is trying to find out. They arrived in Baker Lake Feb. 9 to interview and test local carvers.

Carver study Carvers taking part in the test are 35-years-old or older. A control group of non-carvers will also be tested to compare the results. The testing is related to a specific type of soapstone that fellow University of Calgary researchers found in the North about 10 years ago. This is the second time a research group travelled to these communities. A few years ago it came to set up contacts and to do initial testing, but pulled out because of a lack of funding.

Basil Tatanik has been peeling stone for over 25 years. When he began as a teenager he used chisels, axes, files and handsaws.

Now he uses power tools. Along with the sound of buzzing and grinding, comes the sight of dust swirling up from the rock.

"I tend to not put a mask on so I can see better," Tatanik explained. "I try to use the mask ... but I wear glasses so they get fogged up."

Tatanik has been using electric grinders for about 10 years to sculpture human forms and figures.

"If I inhale too much dust through the nose I tend to get nausea," he explained. "When that happens I stop carving for a while until the dust settles."

Dr. Patrick Hessel, the director of epidemiology at the University of Alberta, took an interest in potential carving dangers about 10 years ago when a carving program was introduced at the Yellowknife Correctional Centre.

Prisoners would gather into the workshop and scrape away at the stone, causing clouds of dust as well as concerns from jail staff, according to Hessel.

After years of struggling for funding, Health Canada approved the project last year and now over $400,000 has allowed a small research team to travel North.

The team will be in Baker Lake for about two more weeks before travelling on to Gjoa Haven, Taloyoak and Cape Dorset.

"They found the composition of stones in these places were different," Hessel said, adding not unhealthier.

Groups of carvers in Baker Lake are currently answering questionnaires about their histories and taking lung function tests.

After they have blown as hard as they can for as long as they can into a plastic tube to determine lung capacity, they get a chest x-ray. Lastly, an industrial hygienist will gather dust from carvers' work areas and study it as well as provide different types of masks for them to use.

"This was a situation in which we were alerted to the potential for some kind of concern," Hessel said. "If we do find something we are hoping we can work with the carvers to find ways of making work safer."

Tatanik said he knows something of concern will show up in the research.

"I think they should have been here years ago," he said. "I think I have been exposed to some damage. I used to have normal breathing."

Now the 48-year-old said he struggles for breath sometimes when he walks or lifts heavy things.