SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Mushrooms around the city could be contaminated with arsenic and are not safe to eat, say officials with the territorial government's Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
The territorial government is warning morel mushroom pickers to steer clear from picking in a 50 km radius surrounding the city to avoid arsenic-contamination. Part of the burn area from last year's forest for fire season, where morels are expected to be abundant, falls within this range - Erin Steele/NNSL photo |
Last year's record forest fires set the stage for a potentially bountiful morel mushroom season - the fungi grows best in burn areas - but the GNWT is reminding pickers not to stray too close to the city.
"Arsenic and heavy metals have been detected in mushrooms, which would include morels, around Yellowknife and the surrounding area," stated Drew Williams, communications manager for the department, by e-mail.
Heavy metals, which includes arsenic and lead, refers to high-density metallic elements that are poisonous or toxic in low concentrations.
The government's recent information sessions on morels aimed to do more than hype people up by reminding them of important safety precautions.
"The recommended (safe) distance from Yellowknife that we have been using in information sessions is 50 kilometres," stated Williams.
Mushrooms reflect the soil they grow in and will pick up heavy metals and other contaminants in the area.
Beginning around late May, pickers are expected to venture into the burn areas and emerge with morels. Buyers are expected to camp out along the highway and pay cash for the product, the GNWT told those attending the information sessions at the end of March.
Brent King of the B.C.-based Pacific Rim Mushrooms has bought in the past but doesn't plan to participate in the harvest this year. He told Yellowknifer he was not aware of arsenic being a problem.
Joachim Obst, a naturalist and mushroom veteran, said he has been involved with many harvests, and helped pen the GNWT's promotional material on morels.
He said mushrooms growing in and around Yellowknife should not be consumed at all because of high levels of lead and inorganic arsenic, the latter of which is a byproduct from Giant Mine.
In a study Obst penned last year, he states, depending on the mushroom and location around Yellowknife, an adult weighing 65 kg may eat as little as 1.4 to 24.3 grams of mushrooms per day before exceeding the Canadian health standard for toxic inorganic arsenic.
"It's always been an issue," said Obst.
The highly anticipated morel crop is an unexpected boon but there are many other species of edible mushrooms found near Yellowknife, including boletes, shaggy manes and pine mushrooms, that people collect and harvest every year.
"There are actually a few hundred people in Yellowknife harvesting those mushrooms," said Obst. "I've been watching it for 30 years now. The health authorities are not doing anything about it to inform the population."
Craig Scott, executive director of Ecology North, said he would follow the advice of the department and Obst on mushroom safety. Scott is also a co-founder of Arctic Harvest, a company specializing in harvesting wild edibles from the NWT, including mushrooms.
He said he would not recommend people eat mushrooms in and around Yellowknife.
"Mushrooms bio-accumulate toxins fairly easily," said Scott. "I've never seen test results but basically within the plume of Giant Mine and within a certain range of Yellowknife mushrooms shouldn't be harvested and eaten."
That 50-kilometre threshold includes some burn areas from last year's fire, such as the one northwest of Yellowknife near Highway 3 to Behchoko.
Eating a contaminated mushroom won't immediately cause side effects but can lead to a variety of cancers in the long term, said Obst.
There are no regulations in Canada governing edible wild mushrooms.
No one Yellowknifer spoke to could explain why government warnings have not been issued until now.
Yellowknifer attempted to speak with NWT Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Andre Corriveau but was told the earliest he would be available to speak is Monday morning.
A guidebook for morel harvesting distributed by Industry, Tourism and Investment (ITI) warns harvesters to avoid mushrooms near mining sites, infrastructure, settlements, roads and places where there is a naturally elevated level of heavy metals. However, the GNWT provided no specifics with regard to where those danger areas are.
"I would not be able to plot them out on a map," stated Williams.
He called it a moot point, saying there will not be a significant morel harvest opportunity in those predominantly Canadian Shield areas. He didn't mention other mushroom species that people might harvest in these areas.
John Colford, manager of traditional economies, agriculture and fisheries with ITI, confirmed the 50-kilometre radius yesterday.
He said the context for the advice considers the commercial harvest of morels.
"We are estimating large volumes of, specifically, morel mushrooms, not the small handful some people would pick to serve in a soup or in a sauce," stated Colford in an e-mail. "The industry is paying 'top dollar' for the product and will apply their own testing protocols. While we may have overstated the distance out of caution, we believe it's a safe distance and will hopefully offer the buyers and the industry the highest quality morel mushrooms available."
Obst is trying to get his hands on an X-ray fluorescent analyzer, a gadget that could screen soil and the first morels before the harvest begins.
In previous years, Obst tested morels between Whati, Behchoko, Fort Providence and Drybones Bay and found them to be all clean.
Last year, a shipment of dried morels from the Deh Cho region was rejected in Europe after test results found DEET from mosquito spray and contaminants from roadsides in the mushrooms.
"The NWT has got the largest potential of any region on the globe to produce clean mushrooms," said Obst. "Harvesters only need to avoid potential hot spots."
