December 10, 2009

Ringsend Death Risk is 20-80 Times Higher With Poolbeg Incinerator.




Added Air Pollution From Poolbeg Incinerator 
May Increase Deaths Twenty To Forty Times.





Chart: Relative risk of deep vein thrombosis from fine particulate matter.







Interpretation


Bord Pleanála acknowledges that the current air pollution burden in Poolbeg from PM-10 air pollution particles is already at the dangerous level of 50 µg/m3.  A Poolbeg Incinerator will increase air pollution above 50 µg/m3, increasing the number of deaths from heart problems and possibly from various cancers.


For Ringsend/Poolbeg the existing air pollution level causes the risk of death from deep vein thrombosis to be ten to twenty times higher than in a relatively clean-air suburb (see chart: read this science).   Added air pollution from an incinerator will increase the relative death risk towards the 20 to 40 times higher level.


Politicians have ignored the science, ignored the scientists in Bord Pleanala and EPA-Ireland, recklessly sidelined Health Impact Reports and decided Poolbeg is an excellent location for further toxic air pollution from a Waste-To-Toxics incinerator!  It's a safe bet the politicians did this via the director level political cronies they appointed to Bord Pleanala and in EPA.   


  • Dublin City Council's Poolbeg Sewage Factory is managed by politicians.  A Poolbeg incinerator managed to the same incompetent standard will increase the relative death risk by20 to 40 times (even 80 times).
  • You can not prove air pollution particles have damaged your health.





Deadliest Particles are Smaller Than PM-10


The May 2008 Italian research is for PM10 particles.   Governments make sure not to measure the even more deadly PM2.5 and PM1.0 particles.   This is cynical preparation for the "no evidence" excuse used by industry experts, a tobacco industry best-practice.


The EPA-Ireland website does not list site-specific-sources of deadly PM pollution at Poolbeg.  The EPA-USA has similar data on-line. 

Footnote:  The Irish Independent reported in early-2009 that the former Ten Year Director of EPA-Ireland had been hired by Covanta/Energy-Answers.  That West Dublin incinerator was cancelled.


__________________________________________
Science


Vol. 168 No. 9, May 12, 2008
Original Investigation

Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution and Risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis

Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD; Ida Martinelli, MD; Antonella Zanobetti, PhD; Paolo Grillo, MD; Li-Fang Hou, PhD; Pier A. Bertazzi, MD; Pier Mannuccio Mannucci, MD; Joel Schwartz, PhD

Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(9):920-927

Result
Each increase of 10 µg/m3 in PM10 was associated with a 70% increase in
deep vein thrombosis risk.

___________________________________

The chart demonstrates the observed relationship between the relative risk of DVT and the level of particulate matter of less than 10 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) in the year preceding the diagnosis.

These results suggest a linear relationship between exposure and risk, though the 95% confidence intervals (shaded areas) are wide at the extremes of exposure. Risk is depicted in comparison with a reference value of 12.0 µg/m3 (minimum observed PM10 level).

The histogram in the bottom part illustrates the density of exposure distribution for air pollution. 


Risk estimates are adjusted for age, sex, year of diagnosis, area of residence, body mass index, education, current use of oral contraceptives or hormone therapy, Leiden V or prothrombin mutations, season, and ambient temperature.

__________________________________________
Check It Yourself at:    http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/168/9/920



Reposted December 2009.

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