Harlescott incinerator health cover-up

Harlescott incinerator health cover-up scandal in which Shropshire Star has no apparent interest. Why do you suppose that is and is it an appropriate attitude for a newspaper?

Professor Rod Thomson, Director of Public Health at Shropshire County Primary Care Trust, has accepted the "expert" advice from the Health Protection Agency and given the "green light" to Harlescott incinerator in his letter of 8 April 2010 to Malcolm Bell, of Shropshire Council. Click here to read the letter.

Michael Ryan has written to Professor Thomson (click here to read the letter) to ask him to withdraw his letter of 8 April 2010 and also to get the Environment Agency to cancel the IPPC permit that's been wrongly issued to Veolia.

Mr Ryan has also written to Kim Ryley, CEO of Shropshire Council (click here to read the letter), to alert him to failure of the HPA to examine any data around incinerators and also the false advice/opinion on Shropshire Council's website as well as the letter sent to Professor Rod Thomson.

The Shropshire Star has banned Michael Ryan from their letters pages and blogs and that paper seems determined to keep the people of Shropshire in the dark over the link between incinerator emissions and high rates of infant mortality.

Click here to read the letter sent from Michael Ryan to Sarah Jane Smith, Editor of the Shropshire Star.

Incinerators Pariliamentary Question

Here's text of written reply to the "incinerator" Parliamentary Question by Paul Holmes MP (Hansard, 30 November 2009, Column 539W)

Incinerators: Health Hazards

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect on public health of emissions from a functioning incinerator; [302956]

(2) with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Lewes of 17 September 2007, Official Report, column 2209W, on infant mortality: incineration, what recent assessment his Department has made of the correlation between the presence of a functioning incinerator and the incidence of infant mortality in that area. [302957]

Ann Keen: The Department has made no recent assessments of the effect on public health of emissions from incinerators, or the effects on infant mortality.

The health protection agency (HPA) recently reviewed the latest research on the impact on health of emissions to air from modern municipal waste incinerators and published a statement in September 2009. It concluded that, while it is not possible to rule out adverse health effects completely, any potential damage from modern, well-run and regulated incinerators is likely to be so small that it would be undetectable. The advice is available on the agency's website at:

www.hpa.org.uk/web/HPAweb&;HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1251473372175

The HPA also advised that studies of public health around modern, well managed municipal waste incinerators are not recommended, since any possible health effects are likely to be small.

Harlescott incinerator

Shropshire Council want an incinerator at Harlescott and are relying on the expert opinion of Professor Rod Thomson, Director of Public Health, Shropshire County Primary Care Trust, as to whether emissions from the incinerator will harm health or not.

Here's the text of Professor Thomson's letter if 8 April 2010 to Malcolm Bell, Strategic Manager Minerals & Waste for Shropshire Council:

"Dear Malcolm,

Planning Permission for Battlefield ERF, Reference MGB326
SC/MS2009/0125/SY

In accordance with our standard practice, we have taken advice from the Health Protection Agency and would respond to tee above request as enclosed.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Rod Thomson
Director of Public Health"

**************************

Professor Rod Thomson seemed to be unaware of the fact that the Health Protection Agency (HPA) are unable to offer any advice or opinion on the safety of incinerators as their Chief Executive, Justin McCracken, has admitted that the HPA hasn't examined the rates of illness or rates of premature deaths at electoral ward level around any incinerator.

The failure of the HPA to examine relevant data was reported in both the Surrey Mirror and also the Dorking edition of the Surrey Advertiser on 22 May 2008 as it was relevant to the Capel incinerator application by SITA.

Unfortunately for Shropshire residents, the Shropshire Star chose to ignore that important admission by the HPA, otherwise we'd not be facing the prospect of Harlescott incinerator being foisted on us at the planning meeting on 1 September 2010.

If you want an idea of what's to come in Shropshire, compare the area between the incinerator site and Market Drayton with the cluster of high death-rate wards due to coronary heart disease during 1998-2002 downwind of Veolia-operated SELCHP incinerator in New Cross by looking at Map 11 at:

http://www.lho.org.uk/Download/Public/8811/1/Health_Inequalities_Report_4.pdf

The Environment Agency also wrote to Shropshire County PCT about the Harlescott incinerator, but they are unable to find any reply which might or might not have said that there would be no harm to health.

The Environment Agency have issued an IPPC permit for Harlescott incinerator anyway, having conveniently forgotten what was said in the South London Press article of 4 May 2007:

"But Chris Smith, of the Government’s Environmental Protection Directorate, said no permit would be issued to an incinerator operator if a health risk was likely."

Chris Smith is now Lord Smith, and Chairman of the Environment Agency.

Former Chairman of the Environment Agency is Sir John Harman, who has also been a Councillor at Kirklees MBC. Kirklees has an incinerator and the pattern of infant death rates around it (and around two other West Yorkshire incinerators) can be seen at:

http://ukhr.org/incineration/kirkleesarea.pdf

Shawbury electoral ward is downwind of the Harlsecott incinerator with SW wind and that ward has had zero infant deaths recorded by ONS in each of the sixteen years 1993-2008. Look at the Kirklees map and ask yourself whether it'll be "more of the same"?