GALWAY for a SAFE ENVIRONMENT
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Monday, July 10th , 2000
Galway for a Safe Environment (GSE) Residents for a Responsible Waste Management Policy Monday, July 10th , 2000 ****************EMBARGO 7.30 PM, MONDAY JULY 10TH************* "Anonymous" Health Report Severely Criticised No Author Listed on Report - Should be Assessed by Experts Large Number of People Demonstrate Outside Galway Corporation Addressing a meeting of Galway Corporation tonight, a spokesperson for Galway for a Safe Environment has severely criticised an "anonymous" health report on incineration and thermal treatment of waste, sent to City Councillors late last week by consultants MC O'Sullivan. A large crowd participated tonight in a demonstation of concern about the incinerator proposal, held outside City Hall, while inside City Councillors considered submissions from over 2,600 Galway people on the Draft Waste Management Plan, including one petition submitted by GSE with the names of 22,112 people against the Draft Waste Plan. Addressing the councillors on behalf of the group, Dr. Conchúr Ó Brádaigh said that it was amazing that the health report presented to councillors late last week, did not give the name of its author(s). "Councillors are being asked to take the word of the consultants on the waste plan that the construction of a huge waste incinerator in Galway City is safe, on the basis of an anonymous health report". Dr. Ó Brádaigh asked: "Who wrote the report ? Are the author(s) qualified to assess the potential health impacts of the incinerator proposal ? Was the report even written by a health professional ? Why is the author's name not given on the report ?" Galway for a Safe Environment said that they had forwarded a copy of the health report to an international health expert, who would be providing an assessment of the report. "We can say that the expert's initial reaction to the report was one of serious concern, about the manner in which the report dealt with the epidemiological evidence of a connection between incinerators and many health problems in humans, including cancers, respiratory diseases, hormone disruption, incidences of cleft-lip and behavioural problems in children born near incinerators, particularly in Britain". GSE expect to receive a full assessment of the report shortly. GSE also presented health information about incinerators that had emerged recently, including the USEPA Draft Report on dioxins, which concluded that 11% of all cancer in the US are due to dioxins, and that Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators are the major source of dioxins. "Why would we in Ireland jeopardise our status of having the most dioxin-free food in the world, by building these discredited facilities instead of recycling and reducing our waste ?", asked Dr. Ó Brádaigh. GSE also noted that an incinerator being discussed for the Isle of Man had been postponed indefinitely last month, following comments from the Manx Director of Public Health, Dr. Ian Maclain that he had serious concerns about the inability of existing measurement devices to accurately measure the amounts of dioxins being produced by modern incinerators (see presentation for full text of Manx Radio interview) Galway City Councillors received the book of submissions from the public on the plan last Wednesday, along with the health report from consultants MC O'Sullivan. The book includes submissions from over 25,000 Galway people. Confirmation: Conchúr Ó Brádaigh, 091-799223 / 087-2830452 Áine Suttle, 091-581047 <!-- HTML Markup endspan --> </td> </tr> </table> <a name=bottom></a> </body> </html>