An Incinerator at Poolbeg could
reduce life expectancy by 100,000 man-years.
That's in its first 15 years (a).
An incinerator can be modeled as a deadly particles generator. A 70 page report from a credible medical society on the reduced life expectancy caused by incineration and deadly particles(b) is here so you make your own judgments.
Pollution in east Dublin already exceeds the compromised EU standards and is significantly above the more protective US air quality standards. The Bord Pleanala Inspector's report noted the compromised level of air pollution in Poolbeg is already at or above the EU norms but his actions will have been dictated by the politically appointed directors at Bord Pleanala.
The submission to the EPA Oral Hearing by a member of the St Patrick's rowing club in Ringsend illustrates concerns on cancer, ill health and premature deaths in a polluted environment. DCC refuses to run a Baseline Health Study for the area and cynically washes its hands by referring all such requests to the less than inspiring Health Service Executive (where nobody washes hands). The EPA Oral Hearing apparently accepted this Big Lie manouver.
The EPA's directors are political appointees of Fianna Fail - at the EPA it would appear the gamekeepers have turned into poachers, and vice versa. Is the politically dominated EPA any more credible than the Developer's Anglo-Irish Bank, the Dublin Developer's Autocracy (DDDA) or the Developer's Irish Financial Regulator?
In addition to invisible microscopic particles an incinerator in Dublin Bay would pump hundreds of thousands of tonnes of pollution into the air over Dublin each year. The total volume of waste is actually increased by waste-to-toxins incineration and is not reduced as claimed by industry Big Lies. For example, in addition to toxic ash and hundreds of other compounds, each tonne of waste generates an additional tonne of CO2. This CO2 is pumped up the chimney where it circles the world.
Big Lie Caution: Dublin City Council has spent €19,000,000 to promote its cynical one-sided case for an Incinerator at Poolbeg. DCC has used multiple Big Lies, including the Big Lie of selective witholding of data, it seems. For instance, DCC has apparently not publicly costed nor quantified the serious health impacts in terms of compromised health and premature deaths - apart from spin such as 'you can not prove that'. This is the Tobacco Industry Big Lie in practice.
The Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE) has other useful information. The Green-Fianna-Fail government has penalised Corks' citizens by presenting CHASE with a legal bill of €50,000. Contrast this to the €19,000,000 of your money given to the public service patriots in developer-lead Dublin City Council. George Bush would say the DCC fokes are Fair & Balanced.
__________________________________________
a)Basis:
June 2008 Estimates by British Society for Ecological Medicine using World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines.Based on a very conservative estimate of the level of increase that would be expected around large incinerators in a population of 250,000.
There is a reduction of life expectancy of 1.1 years for each 10μg per cubic metre increase in PM2.5 particulates
The US National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM 2.5 particulates was introduced into the USA in 1997 with a mean annual limit of 15μg per cubic metre. This had measurable health benefits.
b) Deadly particles - see pages 15-16.
_____________________
Waste-To-Toxins, wastetoenergy, Deadly Particles (PM2.5), Poolbeg Incinerator, Dublin Bay Incinerator, Dublin City Council, EPA, Bord Pleanala, Health, Deaths, The Big Lie, First posted: January 15, 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment