Waste burning hurts sexual development - Greenpeace

BANGKOK - Environmental activist group Greenpeace yesterday urged the Thai government to act swiftly against incineration of waste, which its said would have a severe impact on the sexual development of children. The global lobby group quoted a May 2001 study in the international medical journal, The Lancet, as saying teenage boys living near incinerators had smaller testicles and female teens had smaller breasts than those living in rural areas. "Shrinking testicles is but another item in the growing litany of ailments connected with the burning of mixed rubbish," said Tara Buakamsri, Toxics Campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, in a statement. Greenpeace said it had started a campaign against a series of proposed incineration plants in the Thai capital of Bangkok. It said a medical waste incinerator which has been operating for years was also a "faulty solution" for hospital waste and lacked a proper monitoring processes to check environmental and health impacts. "The incineration of waste either in the open or in enclosed facilities emit super-toxic chemicals such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are also being examined for their alleged role in altering sex ratio among populations resulting in the birth of more females than males." REUTERS NEWS SERVICE