The environment agency admitted to MPs that it had no idea how dangerous Britain’s new generation of incinerators will be to public health.

Paul Leinster, director of environment protection at the agency, told the Commons environment sub-committee investigating waste strategy that the evaluation of dangers of air pollution to public health “were at an early stage”.
The admission came after pressure from Hilary Benn, Labour MP for Leeds Central, and Crispin Blunt, Conservative MP for Reigate. It comes as the Treasury confirmed to MPs that at least eight new in cinerators will be built as part of new schemes approved under the government’s private finance initiative.
The agency told MPs that a private consultancy, Entech, employed by them had made a major error on the number of the number of deaths and hospital admissions that would be caused by emissions from incinerators, and figures of 88 deaths and 168 hospital admissions every year were not accurate. No new figures are available at the moment.
Mr Leinster told Mr Blunt: “We are really at only an early stage at finding out how public health will be affected by the building of incinerators.”
Earlier Lord Cranbrook, the chairman of Entrust, defended the private regulatory body which monitors £350mof environmental grants, which had been at the centre of an investigation by the Guardian earlier this year.

Source
The Guardian