The QEII Foundation announced $200,000 in new funding for the Atlantic PATH Cancer Research Project today.
The PATH project, currently underway across the region, studies genetic, lifestyle and environmental contributors to cancer rates.
Dr. Louise Parker, the principal investigator in the project and the chair of the Canadian Cancer Society Nova Scotia Division, said the project is examining factors that have not been considered before, such as well water.
“In Nova Scotia, about 45 per cent of us get our drinking water from wells,” Parker said in a press release. “We need to know the effect that arsenic and other heavy metals is having on our cancer rates.”
The PATH project is attempting to understand why Atlantic Canadians have some of the highest rates of cancers in Canada.
“This is for the health of our children and our grandchildren,” said Parker.
For more information, visit the Atlantic PATH project website at www.atlanticpath.ca.
