FREDERICTON – New Brunswickers suffering from a mystery neurological disorder are calling for an investigation into potential environmental causes of the health problems they’ve been living with for more than two years.

Steve Ellis, whose father is sick, told a news conference today that federal experts should continue investigating the cause of the disease, of which symptoms include rapidly progressing dementia, muscle spasms, atrophy and a host of other complications.

Stacie Quigley Cormier, whose stepdaughter suffers from problems with mobility, memory and vision, is accusing provincial and federal health officials of misrepresenting patient data.

Health Minister Bruce Fitch says Public Health is reviewing a letter received from the patients’ doctor urging the province to test them for the presence of the herbicide glyphosate, which the doctor thinks could be linked to their health problems.

The province says a review of 48 cases of patients suffering from a neurological syndrome of unknown cause found that the patients didn’t have symptoms in common or a shared common illness.

Fitch says the Public Health Agency of Canada supported the findings of the provincial review, which also found that the patients’ symptoms could be explained by diagnoses of existing syndromes such as Alzheimer’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2023.

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