Gunns Ltd.Managing Director, Mr. Greg LeStrange, wants people to ‘stay with Gunns’ on the $2.5billion pulp mill journey (Examiner April 2).
In my opinion the majority of the Tasmanian community are not only staying with Gunns, they are in fact out-in-front of Gunns in their opposition to a proposed pulp mill.
We do not need Mr. LeStrange’s permission to monitor the harmful impacts associated with a pulp mill in the Tamar valley, or anywhere else for that matter in Tasmania.
The pulp mill hasn’t even been built yet but its approval process has been monitored by tens of thousands of unhappy people. Most people do not want this mill; it does not have a social licence.
I for one have monitored and felt the harmful effects of plantation burning.
Let me assure people that Gunns Proposed Plantation Burning Policy has the potential to harm health, and shorten lives.
This is not world’s best practice. You can read more about this policy in Bill Kelty’s Tasmanian Forests – Interim Report for Consideration: http://www.environment.gov.au/land/publications/forestpolicy/tasmanian-forests-interim-report.html
Anybody that proposes a harmful plantation burning policy in this day and age in Tasmania is backing a dead horse. For one, we have the highest asthma and cancer rates in Australia.
As a former pull mill worker, I believe the many people opposed to a pulp mill in the Tamar Valley will stay with Gunns on this journey, and they will never give up until this pulp mill project is dead and buried and the air has cleared.
Greg L’Estrange in the Examiner, April 9
MINISTER CALLS BURNIE SMOKE POLLUTION OVERLY DRAMATIC
Comparisons Drawn Between High Smoking Rates and Smoke Pollution on North-West
Paul ‘Basil’ O’Halloran MP
Greens Health spokesperson
Wednesday, 13 April 2011
The Tasmanian Greens today called on Health Minister, Michelle O’Byrne, to inform Tasmanians what the Department of Health is going to do to protect residents from being affected by the high levels of smoke particulate from forest burns.
Greens Health spokesperson Paul ‘Basil’ O’Halloran MP said it was appalling that Minister O’Byrne refused to address this serious issue, and instead relies upon spurious correlations between smoke pollution and high levels of smokers in the North-West.
“It is absolutely astounding that the Minister does not take seriously the levels of PM2.5 particulate that peaked at 300, 1200% above the recommended maximum recorded during he forest burns event last week, and instead deflects by talking about the number of respiratory problems related to cigarette smoke,” Mr O’Halloran said.
“For PM2.5 particulate, the maximum 24 hour average is 25 micrograms per cubic metre. For PM10, it is 50 micrograms per cubic metre over the same time period. On 6 April 2011 the 24 hour figure was 39 micrograms per cubic metre.”
“To ignore the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) statistics recording such a massive peak above normal levels is irresponsible, and lets down the community badly. There have been clear 24 hour breaches of the guidelines in Burnie on 6 April 2011.”
“Minister O’Byrne tagged the Greens as being inflammatory and overly dramatic. The Greens are proud to stand up for the health of North-West Tasmanians, and we will continue to do so.”
“These ongoing forestry burn-off failures have to stop, and in the interim the Minister must focus on protecting the health of the community, now and into the future,” Mr O’Halloran said.
via Dr Alison Bleaney:
April 12, 2011
Prenatal Exposure to Combustion-Related Pollutants Linked to Symptoms of Anxiety, Depression, and Attention Problems in Young Children
NEW YORK (April 12, 2011) — Mothers’ exposure during pregnancy to pollutants created by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and other organic material may lead to behavioral problems in their children, according to a new study. Researchers found that within a sample of 215 children monitored from birth, those children with high levels of a pollution exposure marker in their cord blood had more symptoms of attention problems and anxiety/depression at ages 5 and 7 than did children with lower exposure.
The study, “PAH/Aromatic DNA Adducts in Cord Blood and Behavior Scores in New York City Children,” is published in Environmental Health Perspectives online April 12, 2011 and is to be released in an upcoming print issue.
The researchers measured a biologic marker or “fingerprint” of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and other combustion-related pollutants in newborns’ cord blood. When inhaled by the mother during pregnancy, these pollutants can be transferred across the placenta and bind to the DNA of the fetus, forming “adducts” in blood and other tissues and providing a biologic measure of pollutant exposure. Mothers completed a detailed assessment of their child’s behavior.
In urban air, traffic emissions are a dominant source of the pollutants measured in the study. The authors accounted for other sources such as environmental tobacco smoke and diet in their analyses. None of the mothers in the study were smokers.
The study by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) and the Institute of Cancer Research in England is the first to examine the behavioral effects of prenatal exposure to these air pollutants in children using a biologic marker.
“The results are of potential concern since attention problems and anxiety and depression may affect subsequent academic performance as well as peer relationships and other aspects of societal functioning”, said Dr. Frederica Perera, the study’s lead author and Center Director. “Fortunately, it is possible to reduce these air pollutants through currently available pollution controls, energy efficiency, and alternative energy sources.”
Funding for the study was provided by NIEHS, the EPA and private foundations.
MINISTER MUST CORRECT FORESTRY BURNS INACCURACY
And Address Misrepresentation of Greens’ Position
Paul ‘Basil’ O’Halloran MP
Greens Health spokesperson
Thursday, 14 April 2011
The Tasmanian Greens today called on Health Minister, Michelle O’Byrne, to correct the public record over smoke particulate levels recorded in Burnie on the 6th of April, when the 24 hour levels of PM2.5 and PM10 were above both the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.
Greens Health spokesperson Paul ‘Basil’ O’Halloran MP said that the Minister must also correct her misrepresentation of his statements over any causal link between forestry burns and the high levels of respiratory illness on the North West coast.
“During Wednesday’s Question Time, in response to Greens’ questioning over the smoke particulate levels recorded for Burnie last week on the 6th of April which exceeded both the EPA and WHO acceptable levels, the Minister indicated that in fact the levels for both PM2.5 and PM10 were both under the EPA standards.”
“For PM2.5 particulate, the maximum 24 hour average is 25 micrograms per cubic metre. For PM10, it is 50 micrograms per cubic metre over the same time period. On 6 April this year the 24 hour figure for PM2.5 was 39 micrograms per cubic metre and for PM10 it was 51 micrograms per cubic metre. A clear breach of the guidelines occurred in Burnie on 6 April.”
“It appears Minister O’Byrne was referring to the levels recorded for the previous day, April the 5th. This needs to be clarified immediately.”
“I also refute the Minister’s inference that I had made a direct causal link between forestry burns and the high levels of respiratory illness on the north west coast, when in fact I was highlighting concerns that due to the high levels of respiratory illness in this region then there is potentially a higher proportion of this community potentially more vulnerable to any negative impacts caused by the particulate matter from these burns.”
“Health impacts from so-called forestry regeneration burns concern many in the community, and the Minister does herself no service by trivialising an issue so important to so many Tasmanians,” Mr O’Halloran said.
