MSW incineration - Dioxins - Endometriosis

[Emmanuel de Broux <edebroux@tornado.be>]

  Jon, at 00:53 30/11/1997 -0500, you wrote:
  
  >1. The amount of ash produced by incineration is a matter of public
  >record. It is about 1/3 of the original weight and volume. Check out the ash
  >disposal records of any MSW incinerator (it may be as high as 40%, and as
  >low as 30%).
  >
  >2. Check out the history of many or most of the incinerator contracts
  >written in the United States. Especially look at those written for/by
  >Wheelabrator.
  >
  >The NESWC contract, for instance, specifies that Wheelabrator owns the
  >incinerator, but the towns have paid for the (municipal) bonds for it.
  >Guaranteed Annual Tonnage contracts guarantee that the towns will not
  >increase their recycling rate (the towns pay a fixed cost no matter how much
  >trash is delivered). Modifications for changes in law are all borne by the
  >towns. All liability for environmental mishaps and for the ash is borne by
  >the towns. Audit records for the building of the incinerator (which
  >allegedly cost $200 million) have never been provided. Inspections of the
  >plant by the towns are all but prohibited.
  >
  >Wheelabrator and the other vendors knew about the ash issue (weight and
  >volume) and the toxicity of the ash well before most of them were built.
  >There is some evidence that they knew about dioxin air emissions as well.
  >
  >     I am not rewriting history. I am merely reinterpreting what really
  >happened to us, which is that many municipal governments were taken to the
  >cleaners and now have a toxic nightmare on their hands.
  -----------
  Jon, the situation is the same in Belgium, a densely populated country which
  incinerates almost all of its MSW. This has lead Belgium to detain a sad
  world record in terms of dioxins (and furans and PCBs) content in breast
  milk. Source: a WHO report about a year old now.
  
  On Friday Nov. 28, Professor Jacques Donnez heading the Gynecolgy and
  Andrology Service of the Saint-Luc University Clinics has issued a report
  which has been announced by many European TV stations and newspapers (a rare
  feat for this kind of report). He clearly links the production of dioxins by
  MSW incinerators to the many cases of endometriosis of a cohort of 600
  Belgian women.
  
  I shall try to get a copy of it and plan to issue its references on DIOXIN-L.
  
  I consider this report to be highly important for the growing number of
  Belgian and French opponents to MSW incineration. 
  
  Best regards from friendly Belgium, Manu.
  
  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Visit http://www.ic.be/incin/leignon.htm to know everything about municipal
  solid waste thermolysis vs. incineration. Site is bilingual French + English
  and is regularly updated (last November 22, '97). - edebroux@tornado.be --
  Phone and fax ..32 83 21 54 30
  Emmanuel de Broux, rue du Sacré-Coeur 7, B-5590 Leignon, Belgium