Scientist challenges claims on selenium in Crowsnest Lake
Crowsnest Lake – David Thomas photo from crownofthecontinent.net
Recent preprint on selenium in Crowsnest Lake questioned for overselling risk and overlooking modern regulations .
A Saskatchewan scientist with nearly two decades of selenium experience said recent headlines about fish in Crowsnest Lake went beyond the evidence and risked confusing legacy impacts with what would be required under modern mining rules.
In a Sept. 4 phone interview, Dr. Monique Simair said she wrote her Aug. 2 analysis after seeing multiple outlets run the same story based on a bioRxiv preprint led by Alberta government scientists that reported high selenium in fish tissue from Crowsnest Lake.
A preprint is a scientific paper that is shared publicly before it has been peer reviewed. Peer review is the process where other experts in the field examine a study’s methods, data and conclusions to check for accuracy and balance before it is formally published. While preprints can spark early discussion, their findings are considered preliminary and may change once they undergo full scientific scrutiny.
“I really want to have accurate information communicated to people,” she said. “There’s this old saying, you know, I wondered why somebody wasn’t doing anything, and then I realized I am somebody. So, I decided it was time to start speaking up for science.”
Simair said the paper’s authors “went too far in their interpretations in order to essentially sell a story,” adding that scientific discourse should unfold through peer review.
“If it’s going to be presented as an academic article, it should go through the academic peer review publication process,” she said, noting her comments were about process and interpretation rather than disputing the raw measurements.
The May 27 preprint reported selenium in fish ranging from 5 to 26 micrograms per gram dry weight, with 100 per cent of samples exceeding Alberta’s interim fish tissue guideline of 4 micrograms per gram. It framed the results as …