Council officers claim emissions will not threaten public health. They have referred to an apparently independent risk assessment published in 2006 by the National Public Health Service for Wales and also quote advice from Government Agencies including the Health Protection Agency. Both sources of information are flawed.

The Health Protection Agency have not commissioned any research on incinerators.

In 2009 the Health Protection Agency admitted to Parliament they had not commissioned research to measure impacts on health downwind of incinerators. They also advised no such studies be undertaken because they assume any health effects are likely to be small. (Hansard 30/11/09). This advice is available on the agency’s website. Their opinion is founded on a flawed report published by DEFRA and shared between Government Agencies.

A Conflict of interests informing The Health Protection Agency’s opinion.

In 2004 DEFRA published a report titled; Environmental & Health Effects of Waste Management. This report lies at the heart of Government thinking on incinerators, it was used by DEFRA the Health Protection Agency and Environment Agency. It was produced on behalf of DEFRA by a company called Enviros (since 2010 known as SKM Enviros). A core business activity of Enviros is obtaining planning permission for incinerators. The following quotes are taken directly from www.enviros.com

“We have an enviable track record of delivering planning permissions and Environment Agency permits. This applies to all types and scales of waste projects; from small scale composting schemes to large municipal Energy from Waste projects” [meaning incinerators].

“It is our aim to lead debate, influence policy and shape development to achieve outstanding client success.”

Enviros cannot be considered impartial or independent of their incinerator industry clients, when they produced pollution estimates used in their report. Enviros estimated pollutants such as dioxin to be insignificant however, the American Environmental Protection Agency still find ‘modern’ incinerators are a very significant source of dioxin despite improvements in technology and higher standards than we have in the UK. www.epa.gov/ncea/pdfs/dioxin/2k-update/ (updated in 2005). The Royal Society reviewed the Enviros report their criticism covered many pages. The following is a flavour of their comments.

“It offers incomplete guidance to those making policy decisions on waste management strategies and is potentially misleading both for national policy and for local authorities”.

“Caveats associated with the uncertainties in the results are not presented adequately, particularly in the quantification of the health effects, which could mislead the reader”.

Professor Jim Bridges Risk Assessment on behalf of the National Health Service for Wales 2006.

In 2006 The National Public Health Service for Wales published a Risk Assessment on Waste Incineration produced by Professor Jim Bridges. He is a high profile advocate on behalf of industry and is influential on key committees. There are unanswered questions why he was selected to assess the risks. When Professor Bridges was working for the Tobacco industry he could not find anything to link their products to cancer despite overwhelming evidence! In his testimony before the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1995 he implied the US College of Physicians and Surgeons had jumped to conclusions assuming tobacco was harmful to health. Professor Bridges also works as a representative on behalf of the incinerator industry. His opinion on incinerators has been at the core of official thinking and used by Norfolk County Council as proof incinerators are safe. His Risk assessment cannot accurately be described as independent or impartial.

Unfortunately these reports are used by policy makers and are the foundation of official advice.