Sent: Monday, January 30, 2012 19:05
To: ‘dynamco@netvigator.com‘; ‘chair@cleartheair.org.hk‘
Cc: Andrew Tristem; ‘Frances Pollitt’; ‘Kelly, Frank’; Elliott, Paul
Subject: FW: Incinerator study
Dear Mr Middleton
Thank you for your enquiry on behalf of ‘Clear The Air’ in Hong Kong. The English Health Protection Agency announced last week that they have approved funding for a Small Area Health Statistics Unit study to investigate whether there is any potential link between municipal waste incinerators and reproductive health – see
This is for a two year study starting in April 2012. Results will be made publicly available once accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Best wishes Anna Hansell
(Dr) Anna Hansell MB BChir MA MRCP MSc PhD FFPH
Clinical Senior Lecturer Assistant Director, Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU)
MRC-HPA Centre for Environment and Health Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
School of Public Health Faculty of Medicine Imperial College London St Mary’s Campus, Norfolk Place LONDON W2 1PG
Phone: +44 (0)20 7594 3344 Fax: +44 (0)20 7594 0768 Email: a.hansell@imperial.ac.uk
Small Area Health Statistics Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK
Home | Macau | CUHK to start 10-year plan on Ka Ho residents’ health
CUHK to start 10-year plan on Ka Ho residents’ health – Macau
18/06/2012 10:05:00
The government has commissioned the Chinese University of Hong Kong for a 10-year study of health conditions of the residents in Ka Ho, where local people complained of illness due to the air pollution from ashes from the nearby incinerator. The Health Bureau said they had agreed with the university on the detailed procedures of the study to monitor the health conditions of residents in the area near Hac Sa. The University was quoted as saying details of the monitoring mechanism and study methodologies would be disclosed to the public next month. Preliminary arrangements require an annual report to be published, but the final conclusion will be ten years away. The Health Bureau said the study will be conducted scientifically, impartially and independently in a professional manner. The health issues were discovered early last year when hundreds of residents, many of them students and teachers in the schools there, complained of lung and respiratory problems after the contractor working the incinerator was found to have broken safety regulations by disposing of the ashes into open areas, and a large amount of them carried to residential districts by wind
Cancer mortality in towns in the vicinity of incinerators and installations for the recovery or disposal of hazardous waste (see study attached)
• Javier García-Péreza
• Pablo Fernández-Navarroa
• Adela Castellóa,
• María Felicitas López-Cimaa
• Rebeca Ramisa
• Elena Boldoa
• Gonzalo López-Abentea
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412012002279
Study Link
• a Cancer and Environmental Epidemiology Unit, National Center for Epidemiology, Carlos III Institute of Health, Avda. Monforte de Lemos, 5, 28029 Madrid, Spain
• b CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Spain
Received 23 July 2012
Accepted 18 October 2012
Available online 13 November 2012
Abstract
Background Waste treatment plants release toxic emissions into the environment which affect neighboring towns.
Objectives To investigate whether there might be excess cancer mortality in towns situated in the vicinity of Spanish-based incinerators and installations for the recovery or disposal of hazardous waste, according to the different categories of industrial activity.
Methods An ecologic study was designed to examine municipal mortality due to 33 types of cancer, across the period 1997–2006. Population exposure to pollution was estimated on the basis of distance from town of residence to pollution source. Using Besag–York–Mollié (BYM) regression models with Integrated Nested Laplace approximations for Bayesian inference, and Mixed Poisson regression models, we assessed the risk of dying from cancer in a 5-kilometer zone around installations, analyzed the effect of category of industrial activity, and conducted individual analyses within a 50-kilometer radius of each installation.
Results Excess cancer mortality (BYM model: relative risk, 95% credible interval) was detected in the total population residing in the vicinity of these installations as a whole (1.06, 1.04–1.09), and, principally, in the vicinity of incinerators (1.09, 1.01–1.18) and scrap metal/end-of-life vehicle handling facilities, in particular (1.04, 1.00–1.09). Special mention should be made of the results for tumors of the pleura (1.71, 1.34–2.14), stomach (1.18, 1.10–1.27), liver (1.18, 1.06–1.30), kidney (1.14, 1.04–1.23), ovary (1.14, 1.05–1.23), lung (1.10, 1.05–1.15), leukemia (1.10, 1.03–1.17), colon–rectum (1.08, 1.03–1.13) and bladder (1.08, 1.01–1.16) in the vicinity of all such installations.
Conclusions Our results support the hypothesis of a statistically significant increase in the risk of dying from cancer in towns near incinerators and installations for the recovery or disposal of hazardous waste.
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