Toxins deform babies, incinerator hearing told

TOXIC waste incinerators pose a serious health risk to babies and can cause deformed genitalia, cleft lips and learning difficulties in children, it was claimed yesterday.

East Cork for a Safe Environment chairman Allan Navratil said the decision to issue a licence must be revoked because of the known threats that incineration poses to our health and environment. He was giving evidence at the second day of an Environmental Protection Agency oral hearing into the granting of a draft licence for the development of the country’s first toxic waste incinerator in Ringaskiddy in Cork.

Mr Navratil said emissions from incinerators include dioxins and furzan, highly toxic chemicals that constitute a serious threat to health, especially in foetuses and young children.