The report, “Birth outcomes and selected cancers in populations living near landfill sites”, was published today (August 16) and was undertaken by the Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) for the Department of Health. It looked at the rates of birth defects, low birth weight, stillbirths and cancer in people living by landfill sites.
The government-funded study found that the rate of birth defects was 1% higher than expected in the 80% of the population living which it found lived within 2km of a current or closed landfill sites. This figure increases to 7% if hazardous waste is contained on the site. The number of low birth weight babies is around 5% higher near to landfill sites, but no difference was found in the rate of stillbirths. The study found no increase in rates of cancer.
The research, which was carried out between 1982 and 1997 on eight million pregnancies, was published in the British Medical Journal today. The research builds on a report published in the Lancet in 1998, which suggested a link between birth defects and hazardous waste landfill sites.
But the authors of the study were unable to explain the reasons for the link and said that it is not clear that the landfill sites themselves are causing these effects and has recommended that further investigations be carried out.
Difficult to Interpret
Dr Pat Troop, deputy chief medical officer, at the department of health, said: “This is an important study and the government is taking it seriously. The results are difficult to interpret and we need to put them into context. We cannot say that there is no risk from landfill sites, but given the small numbers of congenital anomalies and the uncertainties in the findings, we are not changing our advice to pregnant women and they should continue with the recommended ante-natal programme.”
But she added that the risk to pregnant women from landfill sites was less than the damage caused by smoking or alcohol.
Commenting on the report, The Environmental Services Association said that Britain’s landfill sites are the best engineered and most strictly regulated in the world and play an important role in an integrated approach to managing society’s waste.
Chief executive of the ESA, Dirk Hazell said: “ESA was not shown the SAHSU report or the article in the British Medical Journal before it was made public today. A team of leading scientific advisers is considering the report’s findings on our behalf and we very much hope to be in a position to release a measured response within 24 hours. We have no reason to believe that landfill sites are anything other than safe.”
Action
But Friends of the Earth (FoE) is calling on the government to take action and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. The campaign group said that higher statutory targets are needed to reduce the amount of hazardous waste sent to landfill as in its view the waste strategy has done little to reduce this.
Mike Childs, Friends of the Earth's campaigns director, said: “Although the authors rightly say we need further research, the government must not use this as an excuse to delay action. They must reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. Gordon Brown should increase the landfill tax with a higher rate for hazardous waste. Michael Meacher must introduce a statutory target to eliminate toxic waste dumping in landfill sites.”
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