Last Updated 10 May 2007 08:30

The Health Effects of Waste Incinerators - 4th Report of the British Society for Ecological Medicine

   Conclusions

1. Large epidemiological studies have shown higher rates of adult and childhood cancers and of birth defects around incinerators. Smaller studies and a large body of related research support these findings, point to a causal relationship, and suggest that a much wider range of illnesses may be involved.
2. Recent research has confirmed that particulate pollution, especially the fine particulate (PM2.5) pollution which is typical of incinerator emissions, is an important contributor to heart disease, lung cancer, and an assortment of other diseases, and causes a linear increase in mortality. Incinerators are in reality particulate generators, and their use cannot be justified now that it is clear how toxic and carcinogenic fine particulates are.
3. Other pollutants emitted by incinerators include heavy metals and a large variety of organic chemicals. These substances include known carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and substances that can attach to genes, alter behaviour, damage the immune system and decrease intelligence. The dangers of these are self-evident. Some of these compounds have been detected hundreds to thousands of miles away from their source.
4. Additional dangers arise from radioactive particulates emitted from incinerators licensed to deal with hazardous waste.
5. The greatest concern is the long-term effects of incinerator emissions on the developing embryo and infant, and the real possibility that genetic changes will occur and be passed on to succeeding generations. Far greater vulnerability to toxins is documented for the very young, particularly foetuses, causing cancer, spontaneous abortion, birth defects or permanent cognitive damage. A worryingly high body burden of pollutants has recently been reported in two studies of cord blood from new-born babies.
6. Waste incineration is prohibitively expensive when health costs are taken into consideration. The EC Commission figures indicate that a single incinerator could cost the tax payer up to £50 million a year. The recent American data showed that strict air pollution control saved tens of billions of dollars a year in health costs. 35
7. Waste incineration is unjust because its maximum toxic impact is on the most vulnerable members of our society, the unborn child, children, the poor and the chemically sensitive. It contravenes the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the European Human Rights Convention (the Right to Life), and the Stockholm Convention, and violates the Environmental Protection Act of 1990 which states that the UK must prevent emissions from harming human health.