Mon, Dec 06, 1999 page4

• Reports show cancer risk near trash incinerators

  ENVIRONMENT Two recent studies have shown that burning garbage that contains chlorine-based compounds produces dioxins and other toxins that definitely cause cancer, raising alarm about plans to build dozens of new incinerators in the near future

  • STAFF WRITER WITH AGENCIES
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  Two independently commissioned investigations into the effects of incinerator-produced dioxins were released at a press conference yesterday, revealing that residents living near trash incinerators are at a higher risk of contracting cancer than other areas.

  The Environment Quality Protection Foundation (環境品質基金會, EQPF) commissioned the CITI Corp (中鼎工程) and the environmental engineering Department of the Chia Nan College of Pharmacy and Science (嘉南藥理學院環工系) to conduct the studies, which measured the levels of dioxin released into the atmosphere from six incinerators in Taiwan and estimated the increased cancer risk to residents.

  The studies' results were based on new emissions standards recently approved by the Environmental Protection Administration, that lower acceptable dioxin levels from incinerator smokestacks.

  Secretary-General of the EQPF, Ming Long-liou (劉銘龍) pointed out that studies by the Environmental Protection Bureau (環保署) only measured dioxin levels in the area immediately surrounding incinerators, leading the public to believe that residents living further away were not at risk from the carcinogenic substance.

  "This is not the case," said Ming, "as dioxins dispersed from high smokestacks often land between one and 2km from the site of the incinerator."

  The number of large-scale incinerators burning garbage in Taiwan will jump to 36 in a few years, Ming said, and as many as 100 small-scale industrial and hospital incinerators will be built during this time.

  Ming called on the government to establish a commission that sets standards for dioxin emissions and draws up plans to reduce the amount of the chemical in the environment.

  Chan Chang-chuan (詹長權), Dean of the Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene at the National Taiwan University, stressed that both studies only examined dioxins released in the atmosphere and did not investigate levels found in food or the soil.

  Experts claim that the major source of dioxin in humans is the food they consume. Since dioxin is fat-soluble, it accumulates further up the food chain and is mainly found in meat and dairy products.

  "Incinerators also belch out numerous other toxic chemicals and heavy metals which may cause cancer, including cadmium, arsonium, chromium and nickel," Chan said

  Taiwan's environmental watchdog agencies are already under pressure to test for dioxin in locally produced foodstuffs and their job will become even more difficult when Taiwan enters the WTO and liberalizes agricultural imports, Chan said.

  Dioxin is a term that is commonly applied to a group of chemicals called polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Dioxins are formed by burning chlorine-based chemical compounds and the major source of dioxins in the environment comes from incinerators burning chlorinated wastes.

  An official at Taipei City's Bureau for Environmental Protection said the Neihu and Mucha incinerators have been shut down and are undergoing modifications to reduce dioxin emissions within legal limits.
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