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FLUORIDE POLLUTION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
In the Eastern States of Australia the
media seem devoid of news about chemical pollution from the Aluminium
Industry.
Western Australia is well served by their
media, especially the Daily "West Australian" that makes public,
incorporating proper journalistic principles, the health problems associated
with fluoride pollution from Alcoa's Pinjarra Alumina plant.
The "West Australian" 19th December, 2001
reports "Cancer Street", 6 kilometres from the Alcoa plant where a cluster
of cancer has appeared.
The Pinjarra refinery is one of the largest
in the world producing 3.2 million tonnes of alumina per year.
The W.A. Health Department senior
toxicologist Martin Matisons said the Pinjarra pollutants, arsenic and
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were known carcinogens.
The "West Australian" 10th December, 2001
reported "Toxic Block" (front page news).
It was noted that "almost all emissions
testing had been done by Alcoa" (similar to other Alcoa plants in
Australia).
The Health Minister Dr Edwards said, "she
had ordered independent testing of the nature and level of emissions".
The Alcoa spokesman, Brian Doy, said the
company agreed there was a possibility its emissions were responsible for
symptoms such as mucous membrane irritation.
During October 2001, it was reported that
"more than 500 complaints from residents about emissions were logged in the
six months to June."
"Among toxins from the Wagerup "smoke
stacks" 24 hours per day are, arsenic, mercury, lead, hydrocarbons, sulfur
dioxide, fluoride and nitrogen."
("West Australian" 22nd October, 2001)
On 20th October, 2001, the "'West
Australian" reported that:
"Mining giant Alcoa has given
government authorities conflicting information about fluoride emissions
from the Wagerup alumina refinery."
Fluoride is one of several harmful
components released into the air from the plant which is located between
Waroona and Yarloop south of Perth.
Recent testing of air quality at homes just
outside the refinery's buffer zone was criticised by residents because
fluoride was not measured.
It goes somewhat further when the residents
discovered fluoride was not included in the list of emissions to be
measured as part of the License conditions.
Alcoa claimed only 2.2 kg of fluoride
emitted from the plant annually!
However, the Federal Government's National
Pollutant Inventory Database shows that 390 kg of fluoride is released to
the air annually through the smoke stacks at Wagerup.
Alcoa's spokesman Brian Doy admitted the
discrepancy and said the correct information had not been provided to the
Federal Database.
Aluminium smelters, giants of industry,
shudder at the mention of anything to do with fluoride chemicals knowing
historically the health problems associated with aluminium smelters, some
proven in courts of law.
The Tasmanian Government admitted that
Comalco's Tasmanian Smelter caused health problems resulting in Comalco
buying 12 farms adjoining their smelter to use as a buffer zone.
Surely that alone indicates the toxicity of
their effluent.
There is no limit to Government
(politicians) support for Alcoa. The latest in West Australia is the
Government promotion of Alkaloam, and the Government's endorsement of its
use as a fertiliser.
The Government's Agriculture Department and
Alcoa are promoting a five year plan to spread 340,000 tonnes of refinery
waste on farms in the Peel-Harvey estuary catchment area, alleged with no
risk to the environment. It seems that their definition of the environment
must exclude all vegetation, animals, water supplies and top of the food
chain humans, as long term increase in toxic pollutant, even if in "trace
element" amounts, must inevitably increase the level of these toxins in
living organisms.
Investigating the chemical quality of
Alcoa's Alkaloam, Professor of Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine,
Department of Biomedical Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York,
U.S.A., provided a written statement on the product.
"The fluoride content of Alcaloam red
mud is 1210 parts per million fluoride."
The Government gave Alcoa an
indemnification which identifies it as a "suspect" health product.
Professor Krook's summation:
"The statement of 'clear environmental
benefits' is an insult to human intelligence. How could toxic elements,
fluoride among them, be of any benefit to the environment? The statement
is, of course, not substantiated by any facts."
Professor Krook has provided other
Australian Governments and Inquiries with scientific data relating to animal
damage by fluoride pollution. He is a world authority on the subject and not
only author of many papers, printed in scientific journals, but represented
farmers and communities so harmed by fluoride pollution, especially from
Aluminium Smelters.
Pollution of groundwater
Alcoa has now admitted that water leaking
from its stockpiles of millions of tonnes of mining waste is contaminating
groundwater at three of its Western Australian alumina refinery locations.
These sites include Wagerup, with its recorded air pollutants, as well as at
Kwinana and Pinjarra.
An Alcoa spokesman would not list
substances which had entered the groundwater, admitting only to sodium and
some trace elements. The waste from its refining operations is known to
contain heavy metals including chromium, cadmium and lead as well as
fluoride, radioactive thorium and uranium. Trace elements can include all
these contaminants. Reported in the "Western Australian" on 29th January,
2002.
Surely it is time for Australian
Governments to force politicians to educate themselves with FACTS about
fluoride toxicity, especially in so many places including drinking water
supplies, otherwise the Australian population will consider a possible
covert fluoride agenda in Governments.
Movie extra actors suing producers for
illness from silica powder
A class action by hundreds of movie extras
claims that they were subject to exposure to Fuller's Earth, containing
crystalline silica, a known lung irritant and carcinogen. Court documents
reveal that a class action by the actors against Fox Entertainment Group Inc
has been filed.
The actors' claim arose from their work
during filming of Planet of the Apes, when, over about a 12 day
period, they were required to run through about 36,000 kilograms of Fuller's
Earth, which was blown into the air by wind machines to simulate a dust
storm.
The suit alleges that the studio had
removed labels from bags warning of possible cancer risk and that the makers
recommendation to use face masks had not been followed.
"The dust was so hazardous that it stuck to
face and hairpieces. Hair that started as black or grey, soon turned to
walnut brown within minutes. Many hairpieces started to disintegrate after a
short period of time in the dust."
The actors had overexposure to cold
weather, many developed respiratory problems consisting of coughs, sinus and
respiratory infections. (Reported in The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February
2002).
The risk of cancer from exposure to silica
has previously been reported in The Australian Fluoridation News.
Contamination by silica of the already toxic fluoride compounds added to
water supplies may have a synergistic effect, enhancing the toxicity of the
already toxic substance when ingested by man. (See AFN, Vol. 35, No 3,
May-June 1999, Vol 36, No 1, January-February 2000, and Vol. 36, No 5,
September-October 2000).
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