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April 12th, 2013:

Organic pollutants poison the roof of the world

Accumulation of DDT in Himalayas exceeds that seen in Arctic.

http://www.nature.com/news/organic-pollutants-poison-the-roof-of-the-world-1.12776

· Jane Qiu

11 April 2013

DEHRADUN, INDIA

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Atmospheric pollution from cities such asKathmandu drifts up to the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau, where persistent chemicals can accumulate.

JEROME LORIEAU PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES

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Toxic chemicals are accumulating in the ecosystems of the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau, researchers warn in the the first comprehensive study to assess levels of certain organic pollutants in that part of the world.

“The rigour and quality of the work are impressive,” says Surendra Singh, an ecologist at the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun. “It’s the first study to quantify the accumulation of [persistent organic pollutants] in ecosystems in the region.”

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are carbon-based compounds that are resistant to break-down. Some originate from the burning of fuel or the processing of electronic waste, and others are widely used as pesticides or herbicides or in the manufacture of solvents, plastics and pharmaceuticals. Some POPs, such as the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and the herbicide Agent Orange, can cause diseases such as cancers, neurological disorders, reproductive dysfunction and birth defects.

Many POPs are volatile and insoluble, and can travel a long distance. “They tend to evaporate in hot places, hitch a ride on winds, and then condense in cold regions,” says Xu Baiqing, an environmental scientist at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research in Beijing.

In 2008, Xu and his colleagues first reported the presence of DDT, hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the East Rongbuk Glacier near Mount Everest1. “Their levels correlate well with human use of those chemicals,” says Wang Xiaoping, an environment scientist at the ITP who was lead author of that study. For instance, the amount of DDT fell sharply during the 1970s, when many European countries started to ban its use, but rose again after 1990s, when its use rose heavily in the Indian subcontinent. Other POPs continue to be commonly used in many developing countries.

That was not an isolated incident. At the fourth Third Pole Environment Workshop, held on 1–3 April in Dehradun, India, Xu reported that ice cores from across the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau are rife with those toxic compounds.

To trace the sources of those pollutants, Xu and his colleagues correlated meteorological measurements with chemical compositions of air parcels sampled at 16 locations across the region. They found that POPs in the western Tibetan plateau were transported by the westerly winds from Europe and Africa, whereas those in the southern and southeastern regions were brought by the Indian monsoon from South Asia23.

More alarmingly, the researchers also detected large amounts of POPs in various components of the ecosystems such as soil, grass, trees and fish in the Himalayas and in the Tibetan plateau, especially at the highest elevations. “Their levels increase in orders of magnitude as they move further along the food chain,” says Xu. The amounts of DDT in leaves are up to four times higher than those found in boreal forests in the Arctic. “If the trend continues, the forests might reach a critical threshold in the next a few decades,” he says.

The results “are another warning of the way we use chemicals”, says David Molden, director of the Integrated Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu.

Because some persistent compounds accumulate at the top of the food chain, humans can be exposed to POPs by eating meat and fish. And the mountain communities are hit hardest, researchers say. “They do not emit any of those toxic compounds,” says Xu, “but are forced to shoulder the burden of their impact.”

BBC News – Kings Lynn incinerator decision ‘was flawed’ Kind of rings a bell locally in Hong Kong , Elvis AU, Jonathon Wong et al

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-22105395

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

11 April 2013 Last updated at 10:21 GMT

Kings Lynn incinerator decision ‘was flawed’

Opposition to a £500m waste incinerator has been ignored by “obsessive and paranoid” council officials and politicians, a public inquiry has heard.

Henry Bellingham, MP for North West Norfolk, told the hearing the Kings Lynn scheme should be abandoned.

He said: “The decision to go ahead with the incinerator was flawed.”

The plans are backed by Norfolk County Council (NCC), but opposed by West Norfolk Borough Council.

The plant at Saddlebow would be designed to create electricity from burning about 250,000 tonnes of waste a year.

Conservative MP Mr Bellingham told the Kings Lynn inquiry: “We shouldn’t have the incinerator at all but should look at other technology.”

He has campaigned against the project since its inception and said other councils were looking at technology that provided “zero emissions and zero waste”.

“I told the inspector that the county council had handled this whole issue appallingly badly and their conduct throughout had been unprofessional, unethical, secretive and frankly they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Ill effects’

Mr Bellingham told the inquiry it seemed both officers and members were “obsessive and paranoid” about getting the project through.

“This meant ignoring the opposition of more than 65,000 local people who voted No in a local poll,” he said.

Mr Bellingham spoke against the project for more than 45 minutes but the county council’s lawyer Neil Cameron declined to cross examine him.

Richard Phillips, the lawyer for Corey Wheelabrator, who are set to build and run the plant, challenged Mr Bellingham’s assertion they were not fit for such a role.

He pointed to the firm’s plant on the Thames which was similar and asked if he knew of any problems that had caused.

Mr Bellingham replied: “I would suggest that it’s going to be many years before we know whether there are any ill effects on people’s health.”

It is anticipated the inquiry will last until 19 April and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is expected to announce a decision on the project in the summer.

Mortality among workers at a municipal waste incinerator.

Download PDF : Am J Ind Med

HEALTH RISKS: ADVERSE EFFECTS FROM INCINERATOR EMISSIONS

Download PDF : NYWAG-Health-Risks

The Health Effects of Waste Incinerators

Download PDF : IncineratorReport_v3

Waste incinerators inquiry into link with infant deaths

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/districtnews/9079433.print/

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Waste incinerators inquiry into link with infant deaths

9:09am Saturday 11th June 2011

HEALTH chiefs are to investigate infant deaths in areas where there are incinerators after figures showed a spike in babies dying near the facilities.

Environmental campaigners claim emissions from incinerators are hazardous and say figures relating to Bolton back that up.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show a jump in infant deaths in Great Lever — where the Raikes Lane waste plant incinerator is based. The Royal Bolton Hospital is also on the edge of the ward boundary.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) does not believe incinerators cause “significant risk”, but is now looking to reassure the public with a special study.

A spokesman said: “Well run and regulated modern municipal waste incinerators are not a significant risk to health. However, we recognise that there are real public concerns about this issue.

“The HPA continually seeks to review and extend the evidence ‘base’ on which it bases its advice.

“We are in discussions with Imperial College London about a potential study into birth outcomes around municipal incinerators and a detailed proposal for what would be a complex study is being drawn up.”

Campaigner Michael Ryan, from Shrewsbury, has fought against incincerators for nine years after the mystery death of his three-month-old daughter.

His son also developed leukaemia and died at the age of 20.

Mr Ryan, aged 62, said: “I believe incinerators do affect health and this needs looking into urgently. What I have found in Bolton suggests incinerators are having an impact in the town.”

According to official figures, 11.3 babies die per 1,000 live births in Great Lever — more than double the borough average of 5.3.

The lowest rate in Bolton is 2.3.

Bolton Green Party member Alan Johnson said: “We welcome this subject being researched, but want to see a stop to using incinerators.”

However NHS Bolton has warned against breaking down the data to ward level.

A spokesman said: “Every infant death is a tragedy, but fortunately the numbers are relatively small.

“This means any analysis of individual wards is not robust enough to show real differences between areas.

“The causes are complex and influenced by many factors, such as deprivation and the mother’s age, ethnicity and health.

“Bolton’s infant death rate has fallen in recent years, but reducing it and improving the health of mothers and children remains a key priority.”

A spokesman for Viridor, which operates the incinerator at Raikes Lane, said the facility played an important role in waste management.

He added: “Most of the emissions from the stack are made up of carbon dioxide and water and trace levels of other substances “The EU Waste Incineration Directive sets stringent environmental standards, with low emissions limits ensuring no significant impacts on health or the environment.”

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UK Health Research

http://ukhr.eu/incineration/selchp.htm

SELCHP & Infant Death Rate Changes Graph

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This graph illustrates the changes in Infant Death Rates in three Boroughs exposed to emissions from the SELCHP incinerator located in South Bermondsey, London. Note that Wandsworth is mainly “upwind” of SELCHP and therefore relatively free from emissions.

See Japanese study of infant deaths around 63 incinerators which concluded:

“Our study shows a peak-decline in risk with distance from the municipal solid waste incinerators for infant deaths and infant deaths with all congenital malformations combined.”
(J Epidemiol. 2004 May;14(3):83-93.)

SELCHP graph

Click the graph to see it at a larger size.

James Middleton
07:27 (14 hours ago)

to me, Eastern

http://ukhr.eu/incineration/

Incineration

In this section we explain what is meant by the term PM2.5s and discuss the effects of incinerators on public health.



Click here to see a map showing pattern of infant deaths in wards around Edmonton Incinerator



Click here to see a map showing Infant Mortality Rates in electoral wards upwind & downwind of Coventry incinerator



Click here to read Shropshire Star letters on the health effects of breathing in PM2.5 emissions.



Click here to see Dr Woodward’s ‘scientific’ report about Ironbridge Power Station. Note that her report has no ‘control’ in an area free from PM2.5 emissions from the power station or any other source and lacks any data or journal references.

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SELCHP & Infant Death Rate Changes Graph

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This graph illustrates the changes in Infant Death Rates in three Boroughs exposed to emissions from the SELCHP incinerator located in South Bermondsey, London. Note that Wandsworth is mainly “upwind” of SELCHP and therefore relatively free from emissions.

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Edmonton Map of Infant Mortality rates

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The Greater London Authority’s map [click here, page 8] shows wards with infant death rates of 9.0 per 1,000 live births and above for period 2002-2008 and this map shows how emissions from Edmonton incinerator cannot be excluded as a causal factor. Click here to learn more

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Kirklees Map of Infant Mortality rates

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Cllr Ann Raistrick, who is concerned about high infant death rates in parts of Kirklees, will find this map useful – as will the Social Services Departments in Kirklees and elsewhere.

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Open Letter to Daniel Kawczynski MP 21.07.2009

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Daniel Kawczynski was a member of the EFRA committee which examined the performance of the Environment Agency in 2006 and should by now realise that the Environment Agency is ignoring the health effects of incinerators, aided and abetted by the Health Protection Agency and others. (Click here to read Michael Ryan’s statement to the House of Commons which has been ignored so far by MPs and the Environment Agency).

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Objection letter to Harlescott Incinerator, Shrewsbury

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Sheila Healy used to be Chief Executive at Cornwall County Council, where the councillors turned down the proposed St Dennis incinerator in March 2009. The Shropshire Star haven’t bothered to report this fact despite SITA wanting to build a similar incinerator at Granville, Telford. Note that Capel Parish Council had another SITA incinerator proposal quashed in the High Court in January 2009. The Shropshire Star ignored this as well.

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HPA admit no health studies around incinerators

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The Health Protection Agency give ‘expert’ advice to Primary Care Trusts about the health effects of incineration and yet they haven’t bothered to examine the rates of illness and premature deaths at electoral ward level around any incinerators. The PCTs accept the Health Protection Agency’s worthless advice and make no objections to incinerator proposals on health grounds.

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Infant deaths 4 x higher downwind of Ironbridge Power Station

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Click here to read how Office for National Statistics (ONS) data at electoral ward level shows a four-fold increase in rates of infant mortality downwind of Ironbridge Power Station compared with upwind for the five year period 2003 – 2007.

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High Infant Mortality rates in Sheffield, Rotherham & Doncaster

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Click here to view the map detailing the high rates of infant mortality in electoral wards around incinerators in the area of Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster.

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REPORT regarding NEWHAVEN proposed incinerator site

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Read the report by Dr Dick van Steenis on the varied health effects of incineration, together with the wider social and economic impact.

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London boroughs with highest & lowest infant mortality rates

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Read which London boroughs have the highest infant mortality rates, and which ones have the lowest (based on 2006 London infant mortality data).

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Norwich Lecture

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Should past failures to get justice over health damage from industrial
PM2.5 emissions from incinerators etc. discourage further efforts?

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Infant death rate 3 times higher downwind of Power Station

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Examination of ONS data for years 1998 – 2005 has shown that electoral wards that are downwind of the Ironbridge Power Station had an average infant mortality rate three times that of the upwind wards.

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Incinerators: A Few Home Truths

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The Shropshire Star Letters page has revealed that the UK’s incineration policy is based on fraud and has no consideration for the provable adverse health effects of PM2.5 emissions including the significant reduction in life expectancy.

Jonathan Davies, of Enviros Consulting Ltd is a co-author of DEFRA’s report about waste disposal and he has been exposed by the Shropshire Star’s letters page. Click here to read letters which are a key part of Incinerators: A Few Home Truths.

Some opponents of waste incineration opt for processes that result in pelletized waste that is then burnt in incinerators or cement kilns resulting in high levels of toxic PM2.5 emissions.

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Something disturbing in the air

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The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health is the professional body of Environmental Health officers in local authorities who have a duty to monitor air quality. They seem unaware of the fact that the PM10s that they monitor are too large to get into the lungs and cause health damage. They should all have had ample opportunity to read this important article during the last 12 months.

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Ironbridge Power Station Emissions Cover-up

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Telford and Wrekin Primary Care Trust (PCT) have failed to examine the pattern of illness and premature deaths downwind of Ironbridge power station, but have invited Michael Ryan to prepare a scientific report. The preliminary outline of that report was part of a statement of evidence to the EFRA Committee investigation into the performance of the Environment Agency who fail to monitor industrial PM2.5 emissions. Click here and see pages Ev 202 – 206 of the report published 11 May 2006.

Co-incineration of coal and waste oils has resulted in a reduction in average particle size from PM5 to about PM2.2, which has meant that the majority of emissions have become small enough to enter the lungs. There has been a significant deterioration in health and life expectancy among those downwind of the power station compared with those living upwind.

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PM2.5s and life expectancy

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PM2.5s are particles that are small enough to enter the lungs. Particles that are larger than 3 microns in diameter (PM3s) are too large to get into the lungs.

Harvard School of Public Health found that for every reduction of one microgram per cubic metre of industrial PM2.5 emissions in average levels of industrial PM2.5 emissions, there were 3% fewer deaths. The largest drops in mortality rates were in cities with the greatest reduction in fine particulate air pollution, ie PM2.5s. Click here for the Harvard press release 15 March, 2006.

Unlike the USA and many other countries, the UK do not measure PM2.5s, preferring to measure PM10s, ie particles that are between 11 microns and 4 microns in diameter that are too large to get into the lungs and cause a range of illnesses and premature deaths of all ages.

The huge increase in PM2.5 emissions in the UK during the last decade has reversed the previous upward trend in life expectancy. If life expectancy were increasing, the age of the oldest resident would also be increasing. That is not happening as the oldest recorded resident was 115 years old in 2000. Infant mortality rates are highest where industrial PM2.5 exposure is greatest. Anyone living in an electoral ward with a high infant mortality rate can expect their lifespan to be curtailed with their health.

Incinerator fumes link to infant deaths

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/5688/Incinerator-fumes-link-to-infant-deaths

Incinerator fumes link to infant deaths

HUNDREDS of baby deaths a year are being linked to ­pollution emitted by public waste incinerators.

By: Lucy Johnston and Martyn Halle

Published: Sun, April 29, 2007

0Comments

The-Edmonton-incinerator-highlighted-in-the-reportThe Edmonton incinerator highlighted in the report

Researchers have established a significantly higher death rate among children up to one year old when they live under smoke from an incinerator chimney.

There is a lower death rate for children who live out of the path of incinerator emissions.

The report comes after a detailed analysis of death rates across the country.

Dr Dick van Steenis, a retired GP who helped head the study, said: “The incinerators are burning all sorts of material from domestic waste to hazardous chemical and radioactive waste.

“The danger comes from the particles released into the atmosphere. They are of a size that can be easily inhaled into the lung where they lodge and cause damage to the body.”

The most damaging particle, known as PM 2.5, is particularly harmful to youngsters he said. “Newborn babies are more likely to succumb to damage from chemical pollutants in these inhaled particles.” He added: “Around every single incinerator, infant mortality rates, asthma rates and autism rates are sky-high.

“That’s if you live under the smoke stream from the chimney. In areas nearby which don’t get the smoke, the death rate is either at the national average or lower.”

The data has been collected from the latest official statistics covering the years 2003 to 2005.

Enfield in north London has the UK’s largest incinerator at Edmonton. The death rate for babies up one year old in west of the ­borough is virtually nil.

But in eastern Enfield, which sits downwind of the incinerator and is exposed to smoke from the chimney, the death rate is between 10 and 12 per thousand of population. The national average death rate for babies up to a year is 5.2 per thousand.

Dr van Steenis said that he had accounted for other factors that could increase the death rate such as social deprivation. He pointed out, for example, that “leafy middle-class areas” of west London were affected by emissions from a big incinerator at Colnbrook near Slough. In some parts around this plant infant mortality rates are treble the national average.

“We compared those areas with nearby well-to-do wards that didn’t get emissions and they were significantly lower than the national average.”

Professor Vyvyan Howard, an expert on environmental pollution from the University of Ulster, said dioxins released in the burning of rubbish had been shown to be cancer causing.

He said that while incinerator filters take out 99 per cent of particles, it is the ultra fine one per cent – the PM 2.5s – that can have chronic effects on health.

London Waste, which owns the Edmonton incinerator, said it had not seen the van Steenis report. A spokesman said: “We use a proven technology with a track record of safe operation and it is recognised throughout Europe as a safe and efficient method of energy generation.

“There is no consistent ­evidence that our facilities cause adverse health effects.

“We continually monitor ­particulates such as PM 2.5s and the levels released are lower than the maximum permitted.”

Emissions from a mass-burn incinerator at Capel become a major concern for those living within 16 miles due north, north-east and east of the site

Download PDF : CAG_infant_deaths_report

Tobacco and roadside pollution more dangerous than bird flu

Friday, 12 April, 2013, 12:00am

Business

LAI SEE

Howard Winn

Given the rising concern over bird flu, it is worth recalling that there are other bigger killers in Hong Kong. In the past two weeks in which nine deaths have been recorded, Hong Kong’s dirty air has led to 123 avoidable deaths. This is using the Hedley Environmental Index, which calculates there were an average 3,200 avoidable deaths a year in the past five years on account of roadside emissions.

Smoking is an even bigger killer. The University of Hong Kong estimates 7,000 people a year die due to smoking, or an average of 269 every two weeks.

These two sources alone do far more damage than bird flu yet seem to raise far less alarm in the minds of legislators and government. This is why it is particularly galling that there was no increase in the tax on tobacco in this year’s budget. A packet of Marlboro Light costs HK$50 in Hong Kong, HK$76 in Singapore and HK$139 in Brisbane. Increasing tax is considered to be one of the biggest deterrents to smoking among young people, even by the tobacco industry.

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Have you got any stories that Lai See should know about? E-mail them to howard.winn@scmp.com [2]



Source URL (retrieved on Apr 12th 2013, 6:21am): http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1212517/tobacco-and-roadside-pollution-more-dangerous-bird-flu

Links:
[1] http://Knowyourmeme.com
[2] mailto:howard.winn@scmp.com

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