ST HELENS general practitioner Alison Bleaney told of her concerns for river water quality on the East Coast during an interview with Australian Story that aired on ABC last night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Dr Bleaney told Australian Story that she had spent $10,000 of her own money to pay for laboratory tests lasting almost nine years.
She said the tests found toxins in water at St Helens, which were used for drinking by residents and wildlife, and were likely to be linked to an increase in a large number of cancer patients in the area.
Tasmanian director of public health Dr Roscoe Taylor said that Dr Bleaney's results had never been substantiated.
"Our investigation included an audit of patient charts in her general practice, which did not suggest any abnormal clustering of particular disease types," Dr Taylor said.
"We have also monitored cancer rates for the area, and there has been nothing to suggest anything out of the ordinary or adverse trends, including in the more recent reports from the Tasmanian Cancer Registry."
Dr Taylor said there had been low-level detection of toxins in streams since 2005.
"It is very uncommon for such contaminants to be detected at all in community drinking water supplies," he said.
"It is extremely unlikely that any adverse health effects will ever arise because of such episodes in the past."
Dr Bleaney's investigation, titled Something in the Water will be continued on Monday.