New Barnfield Incinerator will release deadly and harmful nanoparticles

The recent information session (03.11.11) conducted by the Environmental Resources Management (ERM) consultants, commissioned by Veolia as a part of their preparation for the Health Impact Assessment and Planning Application to build an incinerator at New Barnfield, and was held in William Cecil Memorial Hall. The residents of Hatfield have raised many genuine concerns about the New Barnfield incinerator, most of which weren’t answered by the ERM consultants. The discussion have witnessed well informed  and genuine concern and query from the Hatfield residents, about a whole lot of serious issues like the increase in traffic, sound and noise pollution, impairment of visibility because of this alien structure in New Barnfield , loss of social amenities and the air pollution etc...

The workshop has clearly revealed that the filters in the incinerator would never be able to filter particles of dimension more than 0.1 micron. The 0.1 micron size pores will be virtually ineffective in controlling the nanoparitcles which are 1000 times smaller than one micron. That essentially means just a single 0.1 micron filter pore, in those huge filters would allow around 100 nanoparticles continuously into the environment, a grave danger of those millions of nanoparticles of potentially harmful chemicals getting accumulated in the bodies of all the people including all the other living organisms nearby.

The nanoparticles are the most toxic and deadliest particle entities which, because of their smaller size and increased surface area would not only escape the human body’s general defence barriers such as the lungs and the skin (as the nano particles are way to small in size henceforth gain an easy entry even through the microscopic skin pores and also enter the general circulation of the body and would get into the brain, blood, liver, bone marrow and nervous system). It could also potentially cause DNA mutation, structural changes in the cell organelles and ultimately cell death. Apart from the nanoparticles’ extremely smaller dimension and profoundly increased surface area which result in the production of free radicals (potential cancer causing agent and also induces the ageing process), their chemical composition and also the level of impact the nanoparticle would have amongst the vulnerable population like children, pregnant ladies, immune compromised people, people with chronic diseases especially respiratory illness and the older age groups are of serious concerns.

Veolia is a business entity and its interests are profits and further scope for profits. It is the people who should come forward to protect their own interest as well as their communities’ interest. Let us all come forward to defend our community from the deadly incinerator.     


“BIN THE INCINERATOR”.


- Sajith Attepuram
  Branch secretary, Hatfield socialist party.