“To work out how far pollutants emitted from waste incinerators cause severe health problems, you reckon on every 100 feet of tower equaling about seven miles. That means the Newhaven incinerator will be affecting the health of everyone in a 15-mile radius,” says Dr Dick van Steenis, a retired GP who has become an expert on toxicology, and has worked on a number of public inquiries into incinerators. “The worst affected place will be somewhere lying about halfway into the radius, downwind from the prevailing wind. Lewes is really going to cop it.”
“My colleague Michael Ryan and I have I’ve looked into hospital, ONS, PCT and other statistics in a number of areas in London and elsewhere which are downwind of incinerators, and the data is frightening,” he continues. “The infant mortality rate increases seven times. There are increases in cot deaths, sudden infant deaths, cases of asthma, multiple sclerosis, autism, ME, attention deficiency disorder. There are increases in heart attacks, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome and all kinds of cancers. There is an increase in depression and suicide. The immunity system suffers so there is little protection left against a number of infections. IQs drop - GCSE students’ IQs drop the equivalent of two years, so their grades are much worse. All these things increase significantly after the nearby incinerator has started up. Lewes will become an unhealthy place to live in.”
“In the United States they understand that incinerators are harmful, and they are closing them down,” he continues. “Here we are building more and more. John Prescott altered the legislation in IPPC Law in 2000, saying ‘anything will do.’ There is no regulation on any particulates that are emitted under PM3. These are the ones that you can breathe in, and these are the ones which damage your health.