 |
| |||||||||
|
Stanislaus County Residents & Greenaction Speak Out Against Medical Waste Incineration Plan Bay Area Polluter Tired of Protests by Angry Residents in Oakland Hopes to Bring Dangerous Medical Waste to Energy Incinerator in Stanislaus County
See Also:
For more information, contact:
|
Greenaction & Residents Launch Campaign to Stop Plan to Incinerate Medical Waste in Stanislaus County "Our Community Should Not Become The Medical Waste Dumping Ground!" Modesto, CA -- Two dozen residents from across Stanislaus County were joined by Greenaction today at a press conference to announce the launching of an all-out grassroots campaign to call on City and County officials to halt plans to burn medical waste at the Ogden Martin Systems garbage incinerator near Crow's Landing. Community members held signs and spoke in Spanish and English to denounce the incineration plan. Five television stations as well as newspapers and radio covered the event. Residents are opposing the incineration plan due to concerns about potential significant impacts to public health, the environment and the local economy. The City of Modesto and Stanislaus County are about to begin a process to decide whether to issue permits to Ogden Martin Systems to burn medical waste at the "Stanislaus County Resource Recovery Facility." This would become the state's only commercial medical waste incinerator. Waste would be burned from across California and beyond. Residents are alarmed that Integrated Environmental Systems ("IES") may be contracted by the City of Modesto and Stanislaus County to bring their controversial medical waste incineration business to Crow's Landing. IES is facing a rising tide of protest from angry Oakland residents fed up with toxic emissions from the IES incinerators and the company's poor track record of permit violations. Dioxin, one of the most toxic chemicals known to science, would be emitted into the air from the incineration of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic materials in medical waste. Dioxin bioaccumulates in our bodies and the environment, including the food chain, posing a risk to public health and to the agricultural, dairy, poultry and cattle industries. The recently released U.S. EPA study on dioxin found that dioxin is more toxic than previously thought, is prevalent in our food supply, and linked to cancer in humans, birth defects, and developmental, immunological and other health problems even at very low levels of exposure. The United Nations announced yesterday that 122 nations have agreed on an international treaty for the ultimate elimination of dioxin releases where feasible. "We don't want Stanislaus County to become a toxic dumping ground to burn medical waste that no one else wants, said John Mataka of the Grayson Neighborhood Council. "We already suffer the effects of the tire fire, and we don't want to breathe more dioxin and other chemicals that would be emitted from burning medical waste. Our government should protect our health and stop this plan." "Incinerators cannot completely or safely destroy waste, and no amount of dioxin is safe," said Bradley Angel, Greenaction's Executive Director. "The health of the community should come first, and we are going to fight this dangerous incineration plan every step of the way." |