Incinerators: Truths, half truths and outright lies

WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT INCINERATORS - THE OFFICIAL SPIN VERSUS THE TRUTH:

Fears for your health are material planning considerations. Read this article by Doctor Jeremy Thompson of the British Society for Ecological Medicine www.ecomed.org.uk/ and then go to:

http://safewasteshrewsbury.blogspot.com/2009/04/battlefield-incinerator-energy-from.html

for how to object to the proposed Battlefield incinerator.

DISINFORMATION
Incinerators: Truths, half truths and outright lies by Doctor Jeremy Thompson

Many of the statements made about incinerators, by their supporters, are not true but you will hear them time and time again. We would like to give some answers to these.
Official Spin: Modern incinerators are safe. All the studies showing health effects (cancer, birth defects) relate to the old incinerators.

But the truth is a little different:
It is often claimed that modern incinerators are safer because they have better abatement equipment which reduce emissions of dioxins and other chemicals than older incinerators. There are good reasons to doubt this claim.

The parliamentary report (DSW 56) by Public Interest Consultants noted that “in spite of the efforts of incinerator promoters to make a distinction between “new” incinerators and those that were forced to close by European regulations in 1996, the “new” incinerators are not operating in compliance with their authorisations.”

There are several concerns about the newer incinerators:-

1) Modern incinerators are much bigger. Size itself increases the volume of emissions and hence the risk.

Many modern incinerators burn 400,000 tonnes per year. This would be nine times the size of the incinerator that devastated the community at Sint Niklaas. By analogy even with the best filters in the world 9 filter-tipped cigarettes would be more dangerous than one unfiltered cigarette.

2) There is no evidence that modern incinerators are any safer. There are no long term studies of modern incinerators. Looking at the Sint Niklaas study it is obvious that it would take a 20 year study to reveal an excess of cancer because of the long latent interval. Evidence from the Cape Cod and Long Island studies shows it would also require a study of considerable sophistication to show up increases of cancer. This means that, at the moment, incinerators are being operated in the absence of evidence that they are any safe. In effect people living nearby are being treated like guinea pigs.

The simple inescapable fact is that incinerators emit carcinogens. Particulates themselves are known to be carcinogenic, many heavy metals are carcinogenic, up to 10% of the chemical pollutants are carcinogenic and there is abundant evidence that carcinogens are far more dangerous when combined than when in isolation. To allow these to be released into the environment and into our bodies is both unacceptable and irresponsible.

3) The fly ash from modern incinerators is far more toxic. It takes a large number of tankers to transport this toxic fly ash from incinerators to waste sites. Just one accident would cause an ecological and health disaster. Sooner or later it will happen. Fly ash is dumped at waste sites. Here it can enter the air and water causing further health and environmental problems.
The bottom line is that it is foolish beyond belief to pour more carcinogens into the air at a time when cancer is at an all time high. Recent studies have shown we already have to cope with 65 carcinogens in food, 40 carcinogens in water and 60 carcinogens in the air we breathe. They should not be there at all. They should certainly not be increased. It is time to say enough is enough.

Official Spin: Incinerators are closely monitored so health effects cannot occur.

But the truth is a little different:
Incinerators have an appalling safety record. The Americans stopped building municipal waste incinerators 6 years ago. In France, Belgium, Germany, Holland and Portugal no more incinerators are being built because the public won’t stand for them. Two major political parties have declared there should be a moratorium on building incinerators with the Conservatives stating that local residents should receive benefits if they live near incinerators. But the Environment Agency claim they are safe.

We are told that incinerators are safe but they emit hundreds of chemical pollutants and we have no knowledge of how toxicity of 90% of them. We are told that incinerators are safe but they only measure a dozen of these pollutants. They haven’t a clue about the levels of all the others pollutants and they haven’t a clue about what effect they will have on us. Highly toxic chemicals such as brominated compounds, PBDEs, carcinogenic, endocrine disruptors, doubling in breast milk every 5 years, are not even measured.

There has been no attempt to measure the accumulation of poisonous chemicals in the bodies of people living in the vicinity even though we know (from studies of waste sites in the USA) that these are likely to be increased. Without that data how can anyone even begin to assume these incinerators are safe.

They rely on animal tests of toxicity and yet the SGOMSEC data on lead, mercury, PCBs have shown these have underestimated toxicity by between 100 to 10,000 times. We are told that incinerators are safe and yet they know nothing at all about the dangers of combinations of these pollutants. And yet the conservative voice of Science magazine recently found a 500 to 1000 fold increase in toxicity for combinations of chemicals such as heavy metals at so-called safe doses. Professor Doull, author of the authorative text on toxicology has said that science is incapable of assessing the dangers of mixtures of pollutants.

We are told that they’re safe but they are testing compounds as toxic as dioxins every 3 to 12 months when we know that a single exposure measured in parts per trillion can permanently damage the hormone system of a foetus or young child.

We are told that incinerators are safe but they are unregulated. A recent report showed that pollution offences are almost routine (over 500 offences by 10 incinerators in 2 years) – all criminal offences – all but one un-prosecuted. These were self-reported offences but when an environmental group did it’s own investigation they found 6000 breaches of regulations in 2 years with the abatement equipment (filters) being switched off 18 times.
In truth incinerators are inherently unsafe, they are poorly monitored and virtually unregulated.

Official spin: There is no evidence that incinerators cause cancer. Pollution is only responsible for a small proportion of cancers.

But the truth is a little different:
Firstly cancer is linked with pollution and toxic chemicals

Cancer has shown an unrelenting rise over the last century. The rise is gradual, steady and real. It has increasing by 1% per annum with an age standardized increase in mortality of 43% between 1950 and 1988 (1). Put another way the risk of cancer at the turn of the century was 1 in 13. It is now 1 in 3 with treatment a poor gamble. WHO data show that 80% of cancers are due to environmental influences (2), and evidence from migrant studies confirm that it is the environment rather than the genes that determine the cancer risk. In other words you take on the risk of the country you live in rather than having the risk of the country you were born in. (2).

Many people have noted that the rise in cancer has paralleled the rise in synthetic chemicals. These chemicals have doubled in quantity every 7 to 8 years with a 100 fold increase over the last 2 generations. Many converging pieces of evidence link chemicals to the relentless rise of cancer.

Links between exposure to pollutants and cancer in man
Several observations support this connection. 1) Cancer is commonest in industrialised countries with 50% of cases in the industrialised 20% of the world (3) and the WHO have noted cancer rises with the GNP of a country. 2) There is the same correlation within countries. The highest mortality from cancer in the US is in areas of highest industrialised activity. There is also a correlation in the USA between cancer incidence and the number of waste sites in the county (4, 5). Counties with facilities for treating toxic waste have four times as much breast cancer (6). Cancer is also commoner in counties with chemical industries (7) Public Data Access in the USA shows a close correlation between cancer mortality and environmental contamination. 3) Numerous studies have shown high cancer incidence in industrial workers and in populations living in polluted areas (8, 9). 4) One of the three most rapidly rising cancers, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, is clearly linked with exposure to certain chemicals (for instance phenoxyherbicides and chlorophenols) (10, 11).

Links between exposure to pollutants and cancer in animals
Perhaps most importantly three decades of studies of cancers in wildlife have shown that these cancers are intimately associated with environmental contamination. This is particularly important as animals do not smoke, drink or eat junk food and cannot be accused of living in deprived areas. This strengthens the long-suspected link between environmental pollution and cancer. In a recent study of outbreaks of liver cancer in 16 different species of fish at 25 different sites, cancers were always associated with environmental contamination (12). Dogs have been found to have higher rates of bladder cancer in industrialised counties in the USA (13). It is inconceivable that we are not affected in the same way. Furthermore cancer rates in animals rapidly decline when the pollutants are removed showing the critical importance of an uncontaminated environment to health.

Large increases in cancer in fatty parts of body
Some of the steepest rises in cancer have occurred in parts of the body with high fat content. This including cancers of the brain, breast, bone marrow and liver. This again points the finger at toxic chemicals which are predominantly stored in the fatty tissues.

Chemicals can cause genetic mutation
Many chemicals are known to attach to DNA causing genetic damage in the form of DNA adducts. The research of molecular epidemiologist Dr Frederica Perera of Columbia University has shown consistent associations between exposures to pollution and DNA adduct formation on the one hand and adduct formation and cancer risk on the other (14,15). She found two to three times the level of adducts to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in people in polluted areas and also found higher levels of adducts in people with lung cancer than in those without. Mothers exposed to pollution will also form DNA adducts but their babies have even higher adduct levels putting them at increased risk of cancer from the very day they are born (16).

Cancers already demonstrated to occur with environmental pollution
Several studies have already given direct evidence of a link between airborne environmental pollution and cancer. These include the Long Island Study showing a link between airborne carcinogens and breast cancer (17,18) and the Upper Cape Study showing airborne dinitrotoluenes increased both breast and lung cancer (19,20,). It is noteworthy that initial investigations were negative in both these places and it took detailed and sophisticated studies by scientists from many fields to show up the true situation. Numerous other studies have shown links between cancer and chemicals including VOCs causing increases in leukaemia in New Jersey (21), increases in lymphoma due to dieldrin in Iowa, increases in leukaemia in children due to chlorinated solvents at Woburn (22), a cancer cluster due to industrial chemicals in Bynum, North Carolina (23) and increases in non-Hodgkins lymphoma due to chlorophenols in Finland (24).

10% of chemicals are carcinogenic
The frightening reality about most chemicals is that their risks are largely unknown. This is particularly true of chemicals new to the market. What we do know is that about 5 to 10% are probable carcinogens. The International agency for Cancer Research tested 1000 chemicals in 1993 and found that 110 were probable carcinogens (25) The National Toxicity Program tested 400 chemicals in 1995 and found that 5- 10% were carcinogenic (26). In spite of this only 200 of the 75,000 chemicals in existence are regulated as carcinogens. We have even less knowledge about the carcinogenic potential of combinations of toxic chemicals but what evidence we do have suggests combinations are particularly dangerous and yet these are what we are routinely exposed to.

Other important points to note about toxic chemicals are:-

Survival from cancer affected by pollutants
Airborne pollutants not only affect one’s chance of cancer but also one’s chance of surviving. It has been shown that exposure to pollutants reduces survival from cancer and increases the chance of spread (27).

Levels of Carcinogens in the body are already high
Although the UK figures are not available we know that 2.26 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released in the USA in 1994. 177 million pounds of these were suspected carcinogens. But what happens to all these chemicals?

The reality is that they end up inside us. The evidence for this is as follows:-
A study of have a group of middle aged Americans were found to have 177 organochlorine residues in their bodies (28, 29). A recent study by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine measured chemicals in the blood and urine of healthy volunteers and found an average of 52 carcinogens, 62 chemicals toxic to the brain and nervous system and 55 chemicals associated with birth defects (30). They point out that these were chemicals that could be measured and there were many more that could not be measured, making this a gross underestimate. A study of pollutants in amniotic fluid found detectable levels of PCBs and pesticides at levels equivalent to the foetus’s own sex hormones (31). What is absolutely clear is that what we put out into the world sooner or later comes back to us, like a boomerang, and becomes part of our bodies. Our health is at risk whenever we do this.

AND CANCER IS LINKED WITH INCINERATION:
Direct Links between Incinerators and Cancer
With so many known links between cancer and toxic chemicals you might think that no one, in their right mind, would be foolish enough to build incinerators and deliberately discharge large amounts of pollutants into the air.

Many of the substances emitted by incinerators are known carcinogens. The majority of studies investigating this link have found an association between elevated rates of cancer and living close to an incinerator. The following studies have shown a link between cancer and incinerators:-

Particulates and Cancer
Incinerators are a major source of particulates and particulates cause lung cancer. No one is disputing this. Several large cohort studies link particulates with lung cancer. These include the Six City study (32) and the Cancer Prevention II study (33) both of which show high rates of lung cancer in populations exposed to increased levels of particulates. Quite small increases in PM2.5 particulates in the Cancer Prevention II study (10mcg/m3) gave large 8–14% increases in lung cancer. Put another way each 1mcg/m3 rise in PM2.5 particulates causes an incremental increase in lung cancer of around 1%. There is simply no excuse any more for using incinerators now that we have evidence of the profound carcinogenic potential of these particulates.

Other studies linking Incinerators with Cancer
Elliot: found an excess of all cancers within 7.5km of incinerators with a 37% excess of liver cancers within 1km (34,35).

Gustavsson: His study in 1989 found a 3.5 fold increase in lung cancer and a 2.8 fold increase in gastric cancer for incinerator workers (36). His 1993 study showed a 1.5 fold increase in oesophageal cancer in incinerator workers (37).

Biggeri: found a 6.7 excess of lung cancer related to an incinerator (38).
Doubs: found a 44% increased incidence of soft tissue sarcoma and a 27% increased incidence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in two areas close to an incinerator (39).

Ohta: found a 42% increase in cancer within 1km of a Japanese incinerator and this was twice that of the surrounding area (40).

Knox: Knox looked at the data from 22,458 children dying of cancer. His 1998 study showed an increase in children’s cancers around combustion sites including incinerators (41). His 2000 study showed a doubling of childhood cancers and leukaemias within 5km of municipal incinerators. In this study he found that the cancers were more frequent at decreasing distance from the incinerator, also that this excess only occurred during the operational period of the incinerator and that hospital incinerators gave a similar excess (42). This is very damning evidence.

Sint Niklaas Study: This is the only long term study of incinerators and as such is probably the most important study. It showed that childhood cancers increased after 5 years and adult cancers doubled after 13 years and continued to increase reaching a five-fold increase at 20 years. The findings of this study are extremely worrying and show how little we have learned from our mistakes (43).

1) NCI, 1991:NIH Publications No 91-2789
2) Tomatis IARC Scientific Publications 100, (Lyon, France IARC 1996)21
3) Lancet 1990; 336:474-81
4) Recent Results in Cancer Research 1989;14:196-207
5) International journal of Epidemiology 1985;14:528-37
6) Preventative Medicine 1985:14:620-35
7 Environmental Research 1975;9:196207
8) American J of Industrial Med 1993;24:753-66
9) American J Industrial Med 1994: 25:219-28
10) Epidemiology 1990;1:349-56
11) British Journal of Cancer 1981;43:169-76
12) Science of the Total Environment 1990;94:1-32
13) American Journal of Epidemiology 1981:114:229-33
14) Environmental Health Perspectives 1995;103:838-43
15) Nature 1992;360:256-58
16) Carcinogenesis 1990;11:1229-31
17) AEH 1996;51:255-65
18) The Long island Breast Cancer Study Reports 1-3 (1988-90), New York state Department of Health, department of Community and Preventative Medicine,Nassau County department of Health and Suffolk County Department of Health Services.
19) Upper Cancer Incidence Study: Final report (Boston:Mass.Depts of Public Health and Environment Protection 1991.)
20) Public Health Reports 1996;111:495-507 (Silent Spring Institute, Boston,
Mass.)
21) American Journal of Public Health 1990;80:1209-12
22) J of American Stat Assoc 1986:395:583-96
23) American Journal of Epidemiology 1990;132 (Supp 1):87-95
24) AEH 192;47:167-75
25) IARC Monographs on Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans Suppl 7 (lyon, France:IARC 1987)
26) USDHHS’s Seventh Annual Report on Carcinogens
27) JTEH 1988;25:383-90
28) Environmental Health Perspectives 1996;104:606-10
29) Toxicology and Industrial Health 1993;9:913-59
30)Environmental Working Group: Body Burdens. http://www.ewg.org/?reports/bodyburden/findings.php
31) J Clinic Endocrinology & Metabolism 2000;85:2954-7
32) N Eng J Med 1993;329(24) 1753-9*
33) JAMA 2002; 287(9):1132-41*
34) British J Cancer 2000;82(5):1103-6
35) British J Cancer 1998;52(11):716-26
36) Am J Ind Med 1989;15(3):245-53
37) Archives Environ Med 1993;48(4):243-5
38) Environ Health Perspect 1996;104 (7):750-4
39) Am J Epidemiology 2000;152:13-19
40) Organohalogen Compounds 1997;32:155-60
41) J Epidemiology & Community Health 1998;52(11):716-26
42) International Journal of Epidemiology 2000;29:391-7
43) http://www.milieugezondheid.be/

Official spin: It is perfectly safe to incinerate radioactive matter as it is low level waste and a several hundred times less than natural background radiation.

But the truth is a little different:
When discussing radioactivity we need to make a clear distinction between internal irradiation and external irradiation. External irradiation, such as from an x-ray, is often a single exposure which is spread diffusely across an area of the body. Internal irradiation is produced by radioactive matter that is taken into the body. This is an entirely different process and far more sinister. Here the body mistakes the radioactive matter for a natural substance and it is then incorporated into the body. For instance radioactive iodine is stored in the thyroid instead of normal iodine. So it becomes attached to body structures and concentrated where it will act as a source of radiation and it will continue to emit this radiation over time. This is highly dangerous because these continuing radioactive emissions will target the nearby cells and their genetic material where they can induce cancer. We already know that radioactive isotopes can become attached to the chromosomes .

Recent sources suggest inhalation may be the most important route for internal irradiation. A major concern here is that radioactive matter will accumulate in the body over time. The study at the Hanford “atomic village”, in the USA found that the cumulative exposure was an important risk factor for cancer.

Unfortunately, safety measures make no distinction between internal and external irradiation. They are assumed to be equal. This is extraordinary as there is no scientific work on which to base this unwarranted assumption. In reality the evidence shows that internal irradiation is far more dangerous, something that it is intuitively obvious to most people.

Let’s compare the dangers of internal and external irradiation. A study by Beral showed that prostate cancer is higher in nuclear workers. There was no correlation with external irradiation but a highly significant correlation with internal irradiation. At Aldermaston there was an increase in leukaemia in children under 5. This was not related to external irradiation but to contamination in the fathers suggesting internal irradiation was the cause. Sternglass and Gould have demonstrated a clear correlation between increases in breast cancer in the USA and dietary Strontium 90 and Iodine 131.

The animal studies are perhaps even more striking. In one study it was found that after male mice were injected with radioactive matter the second generation (grandchildren) of these mice had enough radioactive matter inside them to cause lethal genetic damage. The amount of radioactivity here would be miniscule compared with external irradiation yet the biological effect was huge. Another study found pathological damage was caused by internal radiation in rats from Strontium 90 with doses as low as 0.01mGy, which is 200 times lower than natural background radiation.

So here we can see that internal irradiation is qualitatively quite different from external irradiation. Yet whenever questions about the safety of radioactivity the authorities inevitably come up with the tired old argument that the level of irradiation is hundreds of times less than natural background radiation (NBR). They may say it is less than you will get in a flight to Spain or some other silly comment.

Let’s look at this argument more closely. Although we cannot say natural background radiation (which includes cosmic radiation, radon gas and rocks containing radioactive matter) is completely harmless, there is little to suggest it is a major hazard. Cancer rates do not differ in areas with widely varying levels of natural background radiation.

We can compare NBR with man-made radioactivity. The most obvious illustration of this is the clusters of leukaemia and cancers that are found around nearly all of the world’s nuclear facilities. Sellafield has a tenfold increase in children’s leukaemia and a threefold increase in cancers. The authorities unsurprisingly maintain that it cannot be due to the radioactivity because the amount of external irradiation is much less than NBR. At Dounreay there is a 6 fold increase in children’s leukaemia and again we are told there is no risk from the radiation as it is less than NBR.

They fail to mention that Aberdeen has double the level of NBR but no increase in cancers and leukaemias. This, itself, should tell us that natural background radiation is irrelevant.

To say that internal irradiation is safe because it is less than background radiation is like saying a cobra must be far less dangerous than a cow because it is so much smaller. The truth is that this is not comparing like with like.

Official Spin: An increase in PM2.5 particulates would cause a negligible increase in mortality. Specifically they state that the increased mortality from a 1mcg/m3 increase in PM2.5 particulates would be in the order of 1.5 to 3.5 days for each person affected. (PM2.5 particulates are the characteristic emissions of incinerators)

But the truth is a little different:
For unexplained reasons the Environment Agency have not used generally accepted international criteria. The World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines show that a 10mcg/m3 increase in PM2.5 particulates would cause an average 1.1 year loss of life for each person living in the area. This means that a 1mcg/m3 increase would lead to an average 40 day loss of life.

Although this may not seem much the implications for loss of life in a populated area are profound as the WHO rightly point out. In the case of the Colnbrook incinerator, with a population of 200,000 in nearby Langley and Slough this would mean that each 1mcg/m3 increase in PM2.5s would lead to 22,000 years of life lost. An increase of 1mcg/m3 of PM2.5 particulates is quite a small increase for such a big incinerator and it could well be 2 to 3 times this amount. In addition the WHO data applies to a time period of between 8 and 15 years whereas an incinerator will normally be operating for 25 years. This means the loss of life would be more like 44,000 for the time the incinerator was operating.

It is important to realise this is a very conservative estimate for several reasons. Firstly, as stated, the estimated increase in PM2.5s is quite small. Secondly the population affected is in reality much greater and includes the densely populated area of West London. Thirdly mortality is not just affected by particulates but by other elements in the toxic cocktail. So the true mortality is likely to be many times the estimated 44,000 years of life lost over the operating life of the plant. All large incinerators in populated areas will cause this sort of increase in death toll.

It is tragic to think that this loss of life is completely unnecessary as safe technology is available.

Official spin: The National Society for Clean Air state that a firework display in London gives off more dioxins than an incinerator working for a hundred years.

But the truth is a little different:
The name National Society for Clean Air gives the impression of some wonderful group doing charitable work and carefully monitoring our air for our benefit. This is far from the case. The truth is that this is a society funded by the polluting industries including Grundons, the very firm that wants to build these incinerators.

For the polluting industries to fund a society pretending to promote clean air is a disgrace and says everything about the society.

The statement about fireworks has no scientific basis and has been discredited at numerous public enquiries in the past. Fireworks are in any case not made from chlorine so it is difficult to understand how they could produce dioxins.

Modern incinerators do remove more dioxins than the older ones. The older incinerators were largely responsible for the high levels of dioxin in the food chain today. This has been a huge tragedy for children brought up in the last few decades. Breast-feeding babies now take in 50 times the amount of dioxin that adults take in and 17 times the safe limit. These toxic chemicals reduce IQ, cause birth defects, reduce immunity and cause developmental and behaviour problems.
The Environment Agency told us these old incinerators were safe. They were not. They are now telling us the new incinerators are safe. They are not.

The problem is that dioxin levels are only monitored 3 to 6 monthly so each measure is just a snap shot. In Belgium this is rightly considered inadequate and they are measured on a continuous basis. We know that regulations are often ignored. A modern incinerator in Rotterdam was found to be by-passing its filters 10% of the time so emitting large amounts of dioxins into the atmosphere, showering people in the neighbourhood with five times the national limit of dioxin. This is bound to happen here sooner or later. What is certain is that the present system greatly underestimates releases of dioxins.

What this statement doesn’t say is that incinerators create huge amounts of dioxins and most of these appear in the fly ash creating a nightmare problem for future generations. This fly ash has to be transported vast distances to safe sites and any accident would be an environmental disaster.

In spite of the massive health risks associated with this fly ash, regulation is abysmal. At Byker, toxic ash laden with dioxins was for six years spread over allotments, bridle paths and footpaths. No one can have any confidence in the Environment Agency when they allow such irresponsible behaviour.

The statement about fireworks is misleading in another way. It is not just dioxins but numerous other toxic chemicals that are released from incinerators. For instance brominated compounds such as PBDEs are highly toxic, carcinogenic, they are endocrine disruptors and they are presently doubling in breast milk every 5 years. They are emitted by incinerators when computers and electrical goods are burned. They are unregulated. And just as the Environment Agency failed to prevent the tragedy that occurred from dioxin release they are failing to prevent another tragedy in the making from these toxic brominated compounds. They are allowing another highly toxic substance to be released without regulation with unknown and frightening consequences.

Official spin: PM2.5s particulates are not important. PM2.5s are simply a fraction of PM10s and we are measuring PM10s anyway. (This is important because incinerators are a major source of PM2.5 particulates –very tiny particles – which cause lung cancer and heart disease)

But the truth is a little different:
They are not equivalent. This is why industry in the USA was so concerned about PM2.5 regulations coming into force in the USA –they knew PM2.5 monitoring would cost them billions of dollars. They took the Environmental Protection Agency all the way to the Supreme Court in the USA and lost.

Firstly the health effects are markedly different. A 20mcg/m3 rise in PM2.5s would give an approximately 20% increase in long-term mortality whereas a similar increase in PM10s would give a 3.5% increase in mortality. In particular PM2.5s are much better more likely to cause deaths from heart disease.

In addition the composition of the particulates will be different and the heavy metals that attach to PM2.5 particulates will markedly increased the cancer risk.

Secondly the range of the monitors is different - the PM10 will cut off at a much higher level than the PM2.5.Some cut off as high as 3 microns. The PM2.5 monitors will go down much further to at least 0.1 micron and it is these very small particulates which are so dangerous and therefore crucial to monitor.

Thirdly if you get a reading of say 25mcg/m3 on a PM10 monitor then this could be predominately particulates of 9 microns or it could be predominately particulates of 1 micron. Same reading - very different health effects. The first would not be worrying (they would be filtered out by the lung) whereas the second would be very worrying (could double your risk of MI). Another way of saying this is that typically 60% of PM10s are in the PM2.5 range - but if 99% were in that range it would be a lot more dangerous. You need to know the percentage in the PM2.5 fraction - that's what your PM2.5 monitoring gives you.

Official Spin: Emissions from incinerators are likely to drop away to a negligible level about 500 metres from the plant.

But the truth is a little different:
This quote from the Environment Agency is so inaccurate as to be laughable and raise serious questions about their competence and integrity. The reality is that the more dangerous small particulates travel hundreds of miles. The evidence is given below.

The National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, that was established to advise the US government, concluded that it was not only the health of workers and local populations that would be affected by incinerators. They reported that populations living more distantly are also likely to be exposed to incinerator pollutants. They stated “Persistent air pollutants, such as dioxins, furans and mercury can be dispersed over large regions – well beyond local areas and even the countries from which the sources emanate. Food contaminated by an incinerator facility might be consumed by local people close to the facility or far away from it. Thus, local deposition on food might result in some exposure of populations at great distances, due to transport of food to markers. However, distant populations are likely to be more exposed through long-range transport of pollutants and low-level widespread deposition on food crops at locations remote from an incineration facility.” (1)

They later report “the incremental burden from all incinerators deserves serious consideration beyond a local level.” This has obvious relevance to the present policy of building large incinerators all over the UK.
An important point is that the more toxic smaller particulates, which typically have more toxic chemicals and carcinogens attached, will travel the furthest (2).

Most chemical pollutants are lipophilic and are therefore not easily washed away by the rain after they settle. When they land on crops they enter the food chain where they bio-accumulate. It is already been admitted that most dioxin in food today in the UK came from the older generation of incinerators. All chemicals capable of entering the food chain will sooner or later reach their highest concentration in the foetus or breast fed infant.

A striking example of the unforeseen and tragic consequences of releasing pollutants into the air has been seen in Nunavut, at the far North of Canada in the polar regions. The Inuit mothers here have twice the level of dioxins in their breast milk as Canadians living in the South. There is no source of dioxin within 300 miles. At the centre of Biology of Natural Systems in Queen’s College, New York, Dr Commoner and his team used a computer programme to track emissions from 44,000 sources of dioxin in North America. This system combined data on toxic releases and meteorological records. Among the leading contributors were three municipal incinerators in the USA (3, 4).

1) National Research Council (2000): Waste Incineration and Public Health ISBN: 0-309-06371-X,Washington DC, National Academy Press.
2) Rev Environ Health 2001;16 (Pt 3):169-89
3) Final report to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (Flushing, N.Y.: Centre for the Biology of Natural systems, Queens College, CUNY,2000).
4) Science News 2000;158:2