Dioxins level from plant 'very small'

A 30ML glass of milk will contain the extra dioxins Cork people will take in if Ireland's first toxic incinerator gets the go-ahead, it emerged yesterday.

But this amount of dioxins will still be 70% below the World Health Organisation's recommended daily intake, according to chemical engineer Dr Fergal Callaghan.

Dr Callaghan was speaking at the Environmental Protection Agency's oral hearing into the draft waste licence for the Ringaskiddy toxic waste incinerator.

The European Scientific Committee has found that the bulk of people's exposure to dioxins comes from food, and milk and meat in particular, he said.

He did a computer model of the effects the maximum allowable levels of dioxins from the proposed Ringaskiddy incinerator would have on a fictitious Male At Risk Individual (MARI).

"This showed a very small increase in the levels of dioxins - the amount that would be contained in a 30ml, or one-tenth of a glass of milk," he said. He also tested soil samples in seven areas around Cork Harbour and compared them to Bandon and Charleville. These tests showed no difference between the dioxin levels in Cork Harbour and other parts of rural Cork - even with five incinerators in the Ringaskiddy area. But solicitor Joe Noonan questioned his decision to use a 60kg man as a model for the person most at risk. "The Maximum at Risk Individual in medical terms is a baby in the womb or a small child, medical experts have told this oral hearing, would you not agree," he said.

Dr Callaghan replied: "I'm not competent to give an opinion on it."