Do incineration plants pose a threat to women’s health?
Do people living close to household waste incineration plants run a greater risk of developing cancer than the general population? A Franco-British research team has been investigating this… with somewhat qualified results. Between 1990 and 1999, a total of 135,567 cases of cancer were recorded out of a population of 2.5 million inhabitants across 4 French départements – Isère, Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin and Tarn. The authors took the period 1972 to 1985 as the duration of exposure to take account of the average latency period between exposure and the appearance of cancer, which is 10 years. This study highlights “a statistical link between the level of exposure to incinerators during the years 1970 to 1980 and the increased frequency of certain cancers during the years 1990 to 1999”. This link does not appear to be significant among men but is significant among women. In fact it appears that for women living in a medium exposure zone there was an overall increase of 2.8% in the risk of can
