Jonathan Campbell, Health Consultant
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Note: The following article about the NESWC incinerator in North Andover, Massachusetts appeared in the op-ed section of Beacon Community Newspapers in eastern Massachusetts during the week of August 3-9, 1997. I am making available here because I think it lays out the arguments against incineration in simple terms and, at the same time, conveys a powerful message about the environmental health consequences and deadly legacy that incineration imposes upon us.

Poisoning Our Neighbors

There has been much talk of late about NESWC incinerator: the astronomical "tipping fees" (the rate we pay per ton of trash), how expensive it will be, whether it is fair to the towns, whether we can get the state to pay for it, etc. These concerns are all valid. However, left out of the debate is a matter that deserves our attention: the main consequence of the incineration of our trash for Merrimack Valley residents is that they are getting poisoned.

I have done a review of recent data regarding the pollutants that the NESWC incinerator is pouring into the air over the NESWC host community - North Andover - and neighboring towns, and my findings are quite alarming. In short, the incinerator, even when working "perfectly," is poisoning the towns with mercury, lead, and deadly dioxin - the name given to the chlorinated dioxins and furans, the most toxic organic chemicals known - as well as a host of other toxic pollutants. Based on NESWC's own 1995 report, the incinerator was at that time emitting nearly 800 pounds of lead vapor, nearly 2000 pounds of mercury vapor, and more than 1300 grams of dioxin each year.

The last figure, though it seems small, is perhaps the most alarming. It is ten times the limit allowed by EPA regulations. But the NESWC incinerator is not shut down because the new emissions regulations do not have the force of law until several years after they are issued, and the Mass. DEP has been delaying issuing new statewide regulations. The consulting firm CDM has noted that 1995 was a "high dioxin year" and that normally the incinerator produces only 200-300 grams per year for each of the two incinerator stacks, only 4-5 times the amount allowed by the EPA. That is somehow not very reassuring to me.

Dioxin, as I mentioned above, is the most toxic organic chemical known. It acts at the molecular level, exhibiting its toxic effects at concentrations of 1 part per trillion (that's one drop in 300 Olympic-size swimming pools). It is so toxic because it mimics and/or disrupts the natural hormones - chemical messengers - in our bodies. It is known to cause Attention Deficit Disorder, cancer, birth defects, chronic fatigue syndrome, severe nervous disorders, reproductive system abnormalities, endometriosis, and diabetes. By disrupting hormone receptor sites, dioxin can literally change the functioning and reproduction of our cells. There is no "safe" dose; our bodies have no defenses against it.

Mercury and lead are serious toxins to the human neural system; they cause brain dysfunction and permanent brain damage. The DEP reports that virtually all the inland waterways of Massachusetts are so polluted by incinerator mercury discharges that the fish in these waters is no longer edible.

What does this mean for the NESWC host town - North Andover? Suppose someone came to Acton Town Hall, and asked for a permit to dump nearly 2000 pounds of mercury, nearly 800 pounds of lead, and 500 grams of the deadliest poisons known into the air over Acton each year. Would you grant that person such a permit?

Last week I attended a meeting of 150 North Andover residents who gathered to show their opposition to a trash transfer station. The many residents who spoke gave a litany of illness and death that they said had come to their community as a result of incineration. They opposed the transfer station on the grounds that North Andover is already overburdened with poisons from trash from NESWC. When one resident called for the closure of NESWC, the entire audience rose to give him a standing ovation.

Despite the promotion of incineration by the Commonwealth, it is now known that the old simple landfills, over time, accomplished approximately the same trash volume reduction as incineration - about 70%. I am not promoting landfill technology - it pollutes the groundwater. I am merely stating that what incinerators have accomplished is merely to move the pollution from the water to the air. For all the money spent on it, it has not solved the problem, and what it leaves behind is much worse.

When trash incineration is complete, it leaves behind 30-40% of the original weight and volume in ash, a super-toxic witch's brew of dioxin, heavy metals, and other toxic chemicals. A deadly legacy - so far over 700,000 tons of it - will be left with the residents of Peabody, where, because of lax federal and state environmental regulations, it is being treated as ordinary landfill material.

There are other towns that have made the choice to use comprehensive recycling, which attacks the waste problem directly. Worcester has reached 53% recycling, approaching the volume reduction of incineration, by simply charging a small dump fee per bag for non-recycled trash. A similar system is in use in Northampton, MA. In Halton Hills, Ontario, a community of 40, 000 residents, the town established a full-scale comprehensive recycling/re-use facility, and the recycling rate is 64%.

If you hire a contractor and he proceeds to shoot at your neighbors, you break the contract and fire him. The NESWC incinerator is poisoning our neighbors. Let's break our contract now and use some of the money saved to institute comprehensive recycling!