A private members' bill that is supposed to protect farmers, their families and their livestock from electrical current in the ground has unanimously passed second reading in the Ontario legislature.
Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls says ground current pollution is the byproduct of running too much current through transmission lines. He says the excess moves through the soil and it's having a detrimental effect on livestock and dairy production.
"You've heard the term 'dancing cows,'" says Nicholls. "They're start lifting their hoofs because they can feel the current, and when that happens is then the body goes into 'oh, there's something wrong here, we've got to fight it.' Well, that then affects the quality of milk."
Nicholls says questions have been raised about the impact on human health too. During a recent trip to a farm near Drumbo, Ontario Nicholls says he spoke with a farmer who's entire family suffers from chronic illness, as do many of his neighbours.
"I said, 'Well take a look at a number of people on farms that are along the same line that feeds your operation,'" he says. "He identified two, maybe three, that have come down with various forms of cancer, one in his 40s has early signs of dementia, another young teenager has come down with rheumatoid arthritis."
Although there are no figures available to suggest an impact on the provincial economy, Nicholls has no doubt the effect has been profound.
"Not only on family farming businesses, but if these farmers are going out of business, they're not buying permits, their not buying building supplies, so there's an economic impact in the communities in which they live," he says.
The bill goes to committee next for further study.
If it passes third reading and receives Royal Assent, it will give the Ontario government two years to study the issue and a decade to eliminate ground current pollution.
