		*Candidate Web Site* North & East Ward Kieran Cunnane
	*East of the River*

Renmore.. Mervue.. Ballybane.. Ballybritt.. Doughiska.. City Centre.. Tirellan.. Menlo.. Sandy Rd.. Riverside.. Castlegar..

What's wrong with Incineration ?

10 reasons not to incinerate:

1. The Government will not run incinerators. It will be putting it’s trust into profit making Companies to run and maintain these facilities which need to be fed voraciously to make a profit. The Companies will be demanding a return on investment and the expense of public health and safety.

2. For every 3 tonnes of waste incinerated, one tonne of Toxic ash is produced. With incineration, Galway would have the same tonnage of waste to landfill except that it is all toxic waste. East Galway is upgraded to be the (toxic) dumping ground for all of Connaught.

3. Incinerators cause cancer. The fact that dioxins cause cancer is not disputed.

4. Incinerators rely on anti-democracy to get built. The law has been changed twice to bypass Councillors on waste management decisions. An Bord Pleanala (ABP) have been coming out with bizarre decisions going against it's own inspectors. The reason - political pressure, and the axe hanging over ABP's head. A National Infrastructure Board is being proposed to railroad unpopular planning decisions such as incineration.

5. Incineration lacks imagination and vision.
The “lets get a torch and nuke the problem” approach. It is not even a short term solution as they take 4-7 years to build.

6. Incinerator tenders would be going to Belgian and Danish Companies and local job creation will be small.

7. Who will work or live near an incinerator or toxic Superdump ? What will happen house prices ?

8. The bye-products of an incinerator are:

- highly toxic fly ash (for which there is no plan)

- lower toxicity ash (some of which is planned to be used in asphalt for building new Irish roads). This is not practicable - witness Newcastle England, where footpaths had to be taken up due to ash contamination.

9. The incineration question - not “what is the alternative to incineration”, but “what is the alternative to landfill” ?

10. What happens if there is an industrial accident ? It is ironic that as the Government finally takes an interest in Sellafield, it is trying to create 9 mini Sellafields in Ireland.

Some more arguments:

If we don't stop incineration, it will kill many of us or our children and grandchildren. The effects of pollutants such as dioxins are cumulative and can take decades to cause harm. Men have no way of getting rid of dioxins (the half life of dioxins in the body is seven years). Women can eliminate them via breast milk or by passing them onto the developing embryo in the womb. The embryo's brain barrier is also not fully formed until six months into pregnancy, so the pollutants are passed directly without protection before that stage of development.
Ireland has one of the lowest dioxin levels in the world. It's introduction would change all that; confidence in our agricultural produce could also be impacted.
Incineration defeats prevention, re-use and recycling. It condemns us to wasting up all the earth's resources and using up it's landfill space to store toxic ash.
Incineration is a business not an environmental solution.
The Connaught Waste Management Plan is seriously economically flawed in favour of incineration.
Galway exceeded in the first 9 months recycling what the Connaught waste management plan said would take years.
"Energy recovery" or "waste to energy" are propaganda terms. The energy given off by an incinerator is very inefficient if we remove the recycle and re-use items.
No one wants incineration. It is listed as the least desirable method of waste management next to landfill. It should be a last resort not a first one. All the other prevention, re-use and recycling must be implemented first.
The toxic ash produced needs to be managed for the rest of time.
Incineration is against jobs. Recycling and re-use create many jobs. Nova Scotia (pop. 1 Million produced around 3000 jobs).

List of pollutants:

1. List of (some) pollutants:

Antimony (sb), Arsenic, Beryllium, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Particulates, Lead, Sulphur dioxide, Manganese, Volatile organics, Mercury, Nitrogen oxide, Hydrogen fluoride, Carbon monoxide, Nickel, Selenium, Sulphur acid mist, Tin, Hydrogen bromide, Vanadium, Fluoride, Zinc, Hydrogen chloride, Nitrogen, Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Carbon dioxide, Tcdd dioxin equivalents.

(3)K. Jay and L. Steiglitz, "Identification and Quantification of Volatile Organic Components in Emissions of Waste Incineration Plants," CHEMOSPHERE Vol. 30, No. 7 (1995), pgs. 1249-1260, identified the following volatile organic chemicals emitted from a solid waste incinerator stack: pentane; trichlorofluoromethane; acetonitrile; acetone; iodomethane; dichloromethane; 2-methyl-2-propanol; 2-methylpentane; chloroform; ethyl acetate; 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentanol; cyclohexane; benzene; 2-methylhexane; 3-methylhexane; 1,3-dimethylcyclopentane; 1,2-dimethylcyclopentane; trichloroethene; heptane; methylcyclohexane; ethylcyclopentane; 2-hexanone; toluene; 1,2-dimethylcyclohexane; 2-methylpropyl acetate; 3-methyleneheptane; paraldehyde; octane; tetrachloroethylene; butanoic acid ethyl ester; butyl acetate; ethylcyclohexane; 2-methyloctane; dimethyldioxane; 2-furanecarboxaldehyde; chlorobenzene; methyl hexanol; trimethylcyclohexane; ethyl benzene; formic acid; xylene; acetic acid; aliphatic carbonyl; ethylmethylcyclohexane; 2-heptanone; 2-butoxyethanol; nonane; isopropyl benzene; propylcyclohexane; dimethyloctane; pentanecarboxylic acid; propyl benzene; benzaldehyde; 5-methyl-2-furane carboxaldehyde; 1-ethyl-2-methylbenzene; 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene; trimethylbenzene; benzonitrile; methylpropylcyclohexane; 2-chlorophenol; 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene; phenol; 1,3-dichlorobenzene; 1,4-dichlorobenzene; decane; hexanecarboxylic acid; 1-ethyl-4-methylbenzene; 2-methylisopropylbenzene; benzyl alcohol; trimethylbenzene; 1-methyl-3-propylbenzene; 2-ethyl-1,4-dimethylbenzene; 2-methylbenzaldehyde; 1-methyl-2-propylbenzene; methyl decane; 4-methylbenzaldehyde; 1-ethyl-3,5-dimethylbenzene; 1-methyl-(1-pro-penyl)benzene; bromochlorobenzene; 4-methylphenol; benzoic acid methyl ester; 2-chloro-6-methylphenol; ethyldimethylbenzene; undecane; heptanecarboxylic acid; 1-(chloromethyl)-4-methylbenzene; 1,3-diethylbenzene; 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene; 4-methylbenzyl alcohol; ethylhex anoic acid; ethyl benzaldehyde; 2,4-dichlorophenol; 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene; naphthalene; cyclopentasiloxanedecamethyl; methyl acetophenone; ethanol-1-(2-butoxyethoxy); 4-chlorophenol; benzothiazole; benzoic acid; octanoic acid; 2-bromo-4-chlorophenol; 1,2,5-trichlorobenzene; dodecane; bromochlorophenol; 2,4-dichloro-6-methylphenol; dichloromethylphenol; hydroxybenzonitrile; tetrachlorobenzene; methylbenzoic acid; trichlorophenol; 2-(hydroxymethyl) benzoic acid; 2-ethylnaphthalene-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro; 2,4,6-trichlorophenol; 4-ethylacetophenone; 2,3,5-trichlorophenol; 4-chlorobenzoic acid; 2,3,4-trichlorophenol; 1,2,3,5-tetrachlorobenzene; 1,1'biphenyl (2-ethenyl-naphthalene); 3,4,5-trichlorophenol; chlorobenzoic acid; 2-hydroxy-3,5-dichlorobenzaldehyde; 2-methylbiphenyl; 2-nitrostyrene(2-nitroethenylbenzene); decanecarboxylic acid; hydroxymethoxybenzaldehyde; hydroxychloroacetophenone; ethylbenzoic acid; 2,6-dichloro-4-nitrophenol; sulphonic acid m.w. 192; 4-bromo-2,5-dichlorophenol; 2-ethylbiphenyl; bromodichlorophenol; 1(3H)-isobenzofuranone-5-methyl; dimethylphthalate; 2,6-di-tertiary-butyl-p-benzoquinone; 3,4,6-trichloro-1-methyl-phenol; 2-tertiary-butyl-4-methoxyphenol; 2,2'-dimethylbiphenyl; 2,3'-dimethylbiphenyl; pentachlorobenzene; bibenzyl; 2,4'-dimethylbiphenyl; 1-methyl-2-phenylmethylbenzene; benzoic acid phenyl ester; 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol; tetrachlorobenzofurane; fluorene; phthalic ester; dodecanecarboxylic acid; 3,3'-dimethylbiphenyl; 3,4'-dimethylbiphenyl; hexadecane; benzophenone; tridecanoic acid; hexachlorobenzene; cholesterol; heptadecane; fluorenone; dibenzothiophene; pentachlorophenol; sulphonic acid m.w. 224; phenanthrene; tetradecanecarboxylic acid; octadecane; phthelic ester; tetradecanoic acid isopropyl ester; caffeine; 12-methyltetradecacarboxylic acid; pentadecacarboxylic acid; methylphenanthrene; nonedecane; 9-hexadecene carboxylic acid; anthraquinone; dibutylphthalate; hexadecanoic acid; eicosane; methylhexadecanoic acid; fluoroanthene; pentachlorobiphenyl; heptadecanecarboxylic acid; octadecadienal; pentachlorobiphenyl; aliphatic amide; octadecanecarboxylic acid; hexadecane amide; docosane; hexachlorobiphenyl; benzylbutylphthalate; aliphatic amide; diisooctylphthalate; hexadecanoic acid hexadecyl ester.

Dioxins:

1. Dioxins are toxins chemicals, which affect the Thyroid Gland.

2. Dioxins are the most toxic substance known to man and are more volatile than Plutonium.

3. Dioxins are known to cause Cancer and are thought to lower I.Q. in children and sperm count in men.

4. Men have no means of getting rid of dioxins from their system. The half life in the body is seven years.

5. It is not always the first generation which suffers from dioxin poisoning. Women have two methods of getting rid of dioxins:

- By passing into the fat cells of an unborn child in the womb via breast milk when nursing an infant. This is passed on in huge doses as the woman tries to rid her body of dioxins.

- via breast milk when nursing an infant.

Health Effects:

CNIID (France) High and significant risk for facial clefts, renal dysplasia, and megacolon". These are, among other things, deformities
of the face, kidney and sex. Waste incineration is responsible for the birth of an important number of deformed babies.

DIOXIN = Class 1 carcinogen

Immune system - suppression of cell-mediated and humeral immunity, increased susceptibility to infectious challenge, auto immune response.

Male reproductive toxicity - reduced sperm count, testicular atrophy, abnormal testis structure, reduced size of genital organs, feminized hormonal responses, feminized behavioural responses.

Female reproductive toxicity - Decreased fertility, inability to maintain pregnancy, ovarian dysfunction, endometriosis

A general increase in both bacterial and viral infections, including ear infections.

Developmental impacts - birth defects, foetal death, impaired neurological development and subsequent cognitive deficits, altered sexual development.

Modulation of hormones, receptors and growth factors .

Steroid hormones and receptors (androgens, oestrogens, and steroids), thyroid hormones, insulin, melatonin, vitamin A.

Other effects - organ toxicity (liver, spleen, thymus and skin), diabetes, weight loss, wasting syndrome, altered fat and glucose metabolism.

DIOXIN IN HUMAN BREAST MILK

European Union (from World Health Organisation)

from the most recent studies

Year Country WHO TEQ mean (pg/g fat)

1992 Belgium 40.7

1993 United Kingdom 26.3

1990 France 23.4

2002 Netherlands 18.9

1992 Denmark 15.2 *

2002 Spain 13.5

2002 Italy 12.4

2002 Germany 12.1

1992 Austria 12.0 *

2002 Sweden 9.6

2002 Finland 9.4

2002 Ireland 7.2

* TEQ: I-TEF Dioxin