Dioxins, and heavy metals are absorbed by them. We are putting out 50 times more particulates per ton than they are allowed to put out in the US.”
“What doesn’t dissolve into the blood stream gets walled up in the lungs. I estimate that 93% of breast cancer is caused by industrial pollution: the government is spending 50 billion a year on resultant health issues. Who’s advising the government on waste disposal? I’d like to see the details of the private finances of some of the decision makers.”
Dr Van Steenis favours an alternative method of waste disposal, plasma gasification. “An electric welding arc is used to break down into the waste, which is converted into solids - a gravelly substance which can be used for building - and gas, including hydrogen which can be sold as fuel”, he says. “You need to generate a lot of heat for the process, which is powered by electricity, but it produces three to seven more times electricity that you use in the first place. And there is no nasty ash: incinerators need to landfill a third of the stuff they burn, anyway.”
The Council has passed through the incinerator plans, but all is not lost for those opposing the plant, according to Dr Van Steenis. “We could have the authorities up for contravening the European Human Rights Act,” he says. “Infants and children are at most risk from incinerator emissions; their rights are being violated and ignored. Either that or the council could change its mind after it has understood the truth. And it’s quite a shocking truth. We would not be surprised to see a few thousand people dying needlessly every year as a result of this plant in Newhaven.” AL