Print

Mail

wiki links

Critics take EPA to task over dioxins

Dioxin levels in the vicinity of large municipal waste incinerators are lower than those in some other countries, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.

But environmental groups said they doubted the EPA had performed tests properly in view of articles published in international journals by local researchers on the danger of accumulated dioxins and heavy metals.

In response to public concern over the health risk posed by waste incinerators, the EPA surveyed dioxin levels in the air, soil and plants in the vicinity of 19 municipal waste incinerators over four years.

EPA officials said yesterday that information gathered last year suggested that dioxin levels near incinerators in Hsinchu, Taichung and Kaohsiung counties were lower than those in Japan, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK.

But data for these countries are current only to 2001.

EPA officials said the three incinerators, all of which have commenced operations within the last three years, emitted less dioxins then aging ones because advanced pollution-reduction equipment had been installed.

Nationwide, the dioxin concentration examined in the air near 19 public waste incinerators was 0.116 pikograms (pg) of the WHO's Toxic Equivalent measure (WHO-TEQ) per cubic meter, which was less than the average overseas figure, which came to 0.193pg WHO-TEQ/m3. The dioxin level in plants was 3.732pg WHO-TEQ/m3 on average, which was lower than the average overseas figure of 7.2pg WHO-TEQ/m3. For soil, the dioxin level was 2.846pg WHO-TEQ/m3, smaller than the 9.866pg WHO-TEQ/m3 figure cited for overseas.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health recently released a survey on dioxin levels in human blood.

Chou Shin-shou (周薰修), an official at the department's National Laboratories of Foods and Drugs, said that the average dioxin level in 45 university students in Kaohsiung and Hsinchu was about 17pg WHO-TEQ/m3.

"This remains an acceptable level compared with other countries," Chou said yesterday at a press conference.

Chou cited overseas research, which showed that the dioxin level in human blood in New Zealand for a similar age group was 12.9pg WHO-TEQ/m3 in men and 12.4 pg WHO-TEQ/m3 in women. In Germany, the figure was 13.1pg WHO-TEQ/m3, while in Japan, the figure was 20.7pg WHO-TEQ/m3.

George Cheng (鄭益明), secretary-general of Taiwan Watch Institution, yesterday told the Taipei Times that the official surveys on dioxins were simplistic.

"We don't see any long-term or wide-ranging investigation taking place," Cheng said.

Citing Taiwanese research published this year and last year in the journal Atmospheric Environment, Cheng said public health had been jeopardized by dioxin pollution much more seriously than the government was prepared to admit.

The researchers had argued that the impact of dioxins and heavy metal emissions on air near a waste incinerator in central Taiwan was greater than the government reported.

Environmentalists said the government should educate the public on how dioxins accumulate in the body through the food chain.

They said the authorities should offer practical advice on avoiding exposure to excessive pollution.
This story has been viewed 2766 times.