Incinerator a potential hazard to breastfeeding, says midwife

THE Government drive to encourage women to breastfeed could be jeopardised if the Indaver Ireland proposal for a hazardous waste incinerator goes ahead in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork.

The warning came from a midwife in evidence at the Bord Pleanála oral hearing into the application at Neptune Stadium, Cork, where Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons made an appearance in a supporting role for the objectors to the project.

The country’s breastfeeding rates are the lowest in Europe, almost 30% lower than Britain’s, the second lowest in the EU.

But Christina Brownlow, a midwife and mother-of-three who lives in Crosshaven, told the oral hearing, before Inspector Philip Jones, that if the incinerator went ahead, women would not breastfeed because they would be putting their babies at risk.

Breast-feeing women would discharge dioxins into the baby and she said it was a well-documented fact that toxic damage within the womb can cross the placenta barrier.

“If there is a toxic spill or an accident, any stage of pregnancy would be affected. Bringing a toxic waste incinerator into an area of a growing population would be a disaster,” she said.

“There is no way to quantify the possible affects. You cannot tell people to stop breathing,” said Ms Brownlow.

There was a growing awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding, but women were also becoming aware of other health problems.

She said afterwards young children suffering over-exposure to dioxins could develop serious problems in later life. Girls could have problems conceiving and boys could develop problems with testicular functions.

Marcia D’Alton, a practising environmental engineer and a resident of Monkstown, said the proposed development did not conform with the principles of the Cork County Development Plan 2003. She also considered non-conformity of the proposed development with a number of national and regional planning policies.

She concluded that building an incinerator was premature, because the recommended priorities for hazardous waste management had not been achieved. It would hinder progress towards most of those priorities and was in direct contravention of others.

Ms D’Alton said incineration was not proposed by the Waste Management Plan for Co Cork for management of non-hazardous wastes.

“Positioning the development, as proposed, at the end of a cul-de-sac in the very south of Ireland makes no sense from a transportation point of view,” she said.

Eddie Butler, a farmer and restaurateur living in Kinsale, said it would be a travesty if the area’s green image, so vital to selling food and tourism, was allowed to disappear.

“I would ask Indaver to go away and leave us alone. We love our country.”