Formaldehdye emitted by processing plants in the Prince George, B.C., area could be responsible for unusually high traces of the carcinogen detected in the air. (pachapg.ca)

An air-monitoring group has apologized to Prince George, B.C., residents at a public meeting for failing to retest for levels of a known carcinogen in their air, but they still can't explain why the retesting was never done.

"We apologize," George Stedeford, the president of PGAIR, told about 150 residents who crowded into the gym at Sacred Heart School in the central Interior city on Wednesday night.

PGAIR received test results from the Ministry of Environment in 2008 showing formaldehyde in the air at 18 times the acceptable level in one neighbourhood.

Despite the alarming results, neither PGAIR nor the ministry ordered follow-up testing and local residents were not informed until CBC News broke the story last week.

'There are some days where I don't know what the heck I'm breathing.' —Resident Wayne Giles

Many residents who attended the public meeting were anxious to speak directly to health and environment officials about the test results.

Many had concerns about a wide range of health issues — including burning in their throats and lungs, itchy skin, and nosebleeds — and the possible long-term effects on their children.

Wayne Giles was one who spoke out at the meeting.

"There are some days where I don't know what the heck I'm breathing and I want to find out what it is. I've got a tingling in my chest, in my throat, my nose. I'm hearing that this is perhaps what could be formaldehyde," said Giles.

Jo Graber also said the lack of follow-up testing was unacceptable.

"To this day, they still haven't acted on this to verify whether this is an anomaly or not. It is beyond comprehension," said Graber.

No explanation for not retesting

Stedeford said he could not explain why more testing was not done.

"I have to be honest, when this first went down — trust me — I did a lot of reading in the past week. And I asked exactly the same question: 'How come we didn't test more?'" said Stedeford.

But it wasn't until CBC reported on the test results last week that the ministry found the money — an estimated $6,000 to $12,000 to pay for the retesting.

B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner says the air quality tests in Prince George were not hidden from the public. But while the test results were posted on a website, the government felt no need to issue an air advisory for the area, said Penner.

"All I can say is that the professionals that looked at this, including people from the Northern Health Authority, do not believe that it's a risk to the public, based on all the information that they had," said Penner.

Penner also said the ministry thinks the results may not be accurate because the levels of formaldehyde varied tenfold within a few days.

"But we do think it's worth going out and retesting and that's what we're going to do," said Penner on Wednesday.

Follow-up tests will happen in the next three weeks and those results will be made available to the public, said Stedeford.

The ministry also plans to regularly monitor the city's air for chemicals like formaldehyde from now on, he said.

18 times acceptable levels

Five air samples were taken by the B.C. Environment Ministry in July and August 2008 after years of complaints from residents about frequent bad odours in the air.

The results were so extreme — up to 18 times the acceptable level — that ministry officials suspected the data might be incorrect and did not inform residents about the tests out of concern they might cause unnecessary panic, ministry spokeswoman Maureen Bilawchuk said previously.

According to Health Canada, formaldehyde in high concentrations is a carcinogen and contributes to asthma and allergies, especially in children. In lower concentrations, it can irritate and burn the eyes, nose and throat.

PGAIR is a regional coalition of government, industry, First Nations and academic organizations set up to address long standing complaints about the air quality and odours.