* Physicians for Social Responsibility Warn of Incinerator Health Hazards

Burning garbage, commercial waste and industrial waste from a six county area in an un-proven 1980’s designed gasification incinerator is a health, safety and environmental risk that we don’t want here in Mecklenburg.

This is compounded by the fact that the developer has no previous experience in planning, building or operating a gasification incinerator. The Mecklenburg Waste Management Advisory Board reported (direct quote) that:

The Physicians for Social Responsibility have a great deal to say about the health and cancer risks to people living near incinerators. Become informed and then email this information to your County Commissioners and tell them “NO ReVenture gasification incinerator!:

Air Pollution and Primary Care Medicine

Author: Jefferson H. Dickey MD

Incinerators¹⁰

Particulate and gaseous emissions from municipal solid waste incineration depend on the waste stream composition and incinerator engineering and operation, but typically include heavy metals (Hg, Pb, As, Cd. Cr, Mn, Ni, Sb, Se, Zn, V), polychlorinated dibenzodioxins, dibenzofurans, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in addition to acid gasses and oxides of nitrogen, sulfur, and carbon. Batteries, florescent light bulbs, magazine dyes, papers, plastics are sources of metals; lead and cadmium are emitted mostly in the particulate fraction, while mercury is more in gaseous form. Incinerator ashes contain high concentrations of metals. Chlorine and fluorine are emitted as acid gasses, and contribute to halogenated aromatic organic compound formation. Proximity to incinerators has been associated with local lead soil distribution; the association of dioxin exposure with incinerators is less consistent. The major route of dioxin ingestion is in animal fat foods (milk, eggs, animal flesh), although plant deposition and inhalation contribute small amounts. Dioxins have also contaminated herbicides widely sprayed along highways and railroad right-of-ways. Nonetheless, cows milk may be more contaminated with dioxins near municipal solid waste incinerators¹¹, a recent ecological study found stomach and lung cancers to be elevated in communities near municipal solid waste incinerators in Great Britain¹¹. This preliminary and unconfirmed finding is an outcome of concern in light of parallel cancer elevations in a study of MSW workers¹². Increasing attention is being paid to dioxin and mercury emissions from medical waste incinerators.^13 14 15 http://www.epa.gov/ttn/uatw/hmiwifs.html) Exposure to metals¹⁶ and dioxins may also occur from hazardous waste incinerators.

Read more on specific topics below:

• Introduction
• Pollutants, exposure and sources
• Ozone
• Particulate
• Carbon Monoxide
• Sulfur Dioxide
• Nitrogen Dioxide
• Air toxics / hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)
• Incinerators
• Health Effects
• Ozone
• Overview of condition
• Pathophysiology
• Symptoms
• Pulmonary function
• Susceptible populations
• Course and complications
• Particulate
• Health effects
• Epidemiology / weight of evidence
• Particulate size, chemistry, and pathophysiology
• Particuate / Clinical syndrome
• Other criteria pollutants
• Carbon monoxide
• Sulfur dioxide
• Nitrogen dioxide
• Diesel and automobile exhaust
• Air toxics (Hazardous Air Pollutants)
• Air toxics and asthma
• Airtoxics and non-respiratory health effects
• Diagnosis
• Asthma
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic bronchitis
• Coronary artery disease
• Treatment
• Pharmacology
• Behavioral approaches
• Sources of information on local ozone air pollution levels
• Air quality standards
• References

http://www.psr.org/chapters/boston/health-and-environment/air-pollution-and-primary.html