Qld: Lawyers launch more Mount Isa cases

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-2008
Qld: Lawyers launch more Mount Isa cases

By Evan Schwarten

BRISBANE, Dec 12 AAP - Mount Isa Mines will be hit with a fifth legal action next week
for allegedly exposing children in the north-west Queensland community to dangerous levels
of lead.

Law firm Slater and Gordon on Thursday served the company, owned by mining giant Xstrata,
with its fourth lawsuit on the issue this week and lawyer Damien Scattini said a fifth
claim would be launched before Christmas.

Mr Scattini said he expected to launch "many more" actions against the company in the new year.

"I don't know how many we'll end up filing but there's more in the pipeline and there's
more contacting us," he said.

The Mount Isa City Council and Queensland government are also named as respondents to the action.

The fourth action was lodged on behalf of 12-year-old Ryan Oliver whose mother Brenda
moved to Mt Isa when she was pregnant in 1995 and remained there until he was 14 months
old.

It is claimed he has suffered learning difficulties, short-term memory loss and attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder as a result of lead poisoning while in his mother's womb.

Mr Scattini said unborn children were the most vulnerable to lead exposure because
the human body could not differentiate between lead and calcium - which is vital for developing
foetuses.

He also criticised the MIM, Mount Isa council and the state government for responding
to the court action by urging members of the community to learn how to live safely with
lead.

"They put the onus onto the mums to clean up their pollution and say if you just don't
allow your child to behave as a child and you use a wet mop everything will be fine -
well that's just not the case," he said.

"If you were to take out the word `lead' and substitute `asbestos' you would see how
ridiculous that is."

A study released in May showed one in 10 children aged under four in the mining town
had elevated lead levels, putting them at risk of behavioural and intellectual problems.

But Queensland government and Xstrata tests have found healthy levels of lead in air and soil.

Comment is being sought from Xstrata.

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