HC Deb 05 March 2002 vol 381 cc290-2W
Mr. Peter Ainsworth

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence he has evaluated concerning the impact on children's health of the proximity of municipal incinerators. [38830]

Jacqui Smith

[holding answer 28 February 2002]: The Department is aware of relevant epidemiological studies of childhood cancers, birth defects, and respiratory health, chromosomal aberrations, thyroid hormone levels, and pollutant levels in children, in relation to incinerators. Nearly all of these studies were conducted in countries other than the United Kingdom and are of an older generation of incinerators which would fail to meet current requirements for pollution control and emission standards for municipal incinerators in this country. The studies fail to provide convincing evidence that municipal incinerators affect children's health.

A report on "Health Effects of Waste Combustion Products", published in 1997 by the Medical Research Council Institute for Environment and Health, concluded that Epidemiological studies of people who work at or live near incinerators have shown no consistent excess incidence of any specific disease.

Similarly, a report on "Waste Incineration and Public Health", published in 1999 from the US National Research Council, concluded that "Few epidemiological studies have attempted to assess whether adverse health effects have actually occurred near individual incinerators, and most of them have been unable to detect any effects. The studies of which the committee is aware that did report finding health effects had shortcomings and failed to provide convincing evidence."

A 1997 study by Knox and Gilman EA on "Hazard proximities of childhood cancers in Great Britain from 1953–80" claimed that childhood cancers were associated with industrial atmospheric effluents. It was considered by independent expert advisory Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, which noted a number of major limitations in the methodology used which we believe prevent any conclusions being drawn from these data", and advised that we do not consider that any further work is warranted".

£
Health authority area 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01
Avon 638.16 683.57 747.51 810.53
Barking and Havering 625.42 640.62 700.84 748.55
Barnett 673.35 673.84 768.20 939.62
Barnsley 563.45 572.70 679.59 739.66
Bedfordshire 597.57 638.42 696.69 739.78
Berkshire 612.07 655.71 718.34 757.49
Bexley and Greenwich 647.29 683.24 793.77 828.82
Birmingham 670.17 691.96 749.03 764.32
Bradford 627.22 620.53 724.17 692.45
Brent and Harrow 676.69 718.59 823.35 804.74
Bromley 594.78 623.30 793.39 791.35
Buckinghamshire 622.91 652.66 685.31 730.37
Bury and Rochdale 625.40 616.49 707.36 740.61
Calderdale and Kirklees 585.69 597.34 691.84 742.27
Cambridge and Huntingdon 628.29 682.69 N/A N/A
Cambridgeshire N/A N/A 702.68 727.68
Camden and Islington 670.94 745.05 834.92 974.71
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly 621.90 638.13 751.33 766.48
County Durham 588.54 608.76 675.16 707.44
Coventry 594.35 599.78 676.64 733.34
Croydon 602.78 653.25 712.27 896.26
Doncaster 616.50 620.15 711.02 710.42
Dorset 608.70 649.09 743.89 932.50
Dudley 593.34 625.00 684.70 728.03
Ealing, Hammersmith and Hounslow 660.69 676.78 747.62 801.92
East and North Hertfordshire 660.28 704.91 707.99 755.61
East Kent 593.74 637.27 703.87 766.12
East Lancashire 625.16 631.03 720.19 706.83
East London and The City 642.21 637.79 789.78 812.98
East Norfolk 639.37 665.87 N/A N/A
East Riding 620.29 637.16 716.52 770.24
East Surrey 716.22 770.47 837.92 872.74
East Sussex, Brighton and Hove 605.10 622.72 780.63 778.73
Enfield and Haringey 596.63 626.60 717.28 791.72
Gateshead and South Tyneside 614.85 613.17 677.22 727.09
Gloucestershire 647.04 659.61 745.23 778.71
Herefordshire 687.03 675.53 825.52 671.61
Hillingdon 612.52 649.09 719.40 614.53
Isle of Wight 680.61 708.73 773.74 836.61
Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster 691.53 706.81 795.92 878.86
Kingston and Richmond 700.65 739.04 769.12 795.64
Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham 640.25 668.31 804.71 852.49
Leeds 650.93 646.72 755.50 785.61
Leicestershire 642.73 646.99 739.63 762.11
Lincolnshire 683.05 657.34 725.73 746.46
Liverpool 628.60 640.29 749.48 808.94

A later paper by Knox published in 2000 developed the same methodology and claimed an increased incidence of childhood cancer in children born near incinerators, but was based on the same methodology, and related to exposures from over two decades ago.