A study of 23 sites in Britain, Denmark, France, Belgium and Italy by EU researchers has found that the chances of having a baby with downs syndrome increase by 40 per cent for women who live within two miles of toxic landfill sites.

Forum Response: Environmental Services Association

Dirk Hazell, chief executive of the Environmental Services Association, told ePolitix.com: "This report (which relies on an obsolete, superseded and widely criticised benchmark) is quite simply irrelevant to modern regulated landfills in the UK which are the most strictly regulated in the world. Like every other piece of research of which we are aware it does not demonstrate causality and it expressly admits that there is no proof that living near hazardous waste landfills is bad for health.

"We offered the authors of the article the opportunity to improve the scientific basis of any work they undertook. Dr Vrijheid, one of the authors, on 27 March 2001 replied by saying: 'When we are closer to publishing this material I will send you a copy of the papers (I promise to do this before publication of the papers so that your association can be prepared for any possible interest from the public/media)'. ESA has received no such papers. Instead, we are yet again confronted with sensational, unproven assertion which is short on relevant substance but is likely to unsettle people who live near hazardous waste landfill sites.

"For unrelated reasons (arising from requirements of the Landfill Directive and with a view to achieving environmental sustainability) ESA has for some time been pressing the government to require hazardous waste to be pre-treated to Final Storage Quality before final management in landfill.

"ESA and our members are serious about wanting to achieve greater resource productivity and environmental sustainability in the UK. We warmly welcomed the government's announcement of a Performance and Innovation Unit study into the Waste Strategy and our Members want to work in partnership to achieve the best result for the UK. We want to see a dramatic improvement in the quality of debate across the UK about options for management of waste generated by society. If we are to achieve the best possible solutions, scientists, NGOs, and all others who have a legitimate contribution to make to this debate, must focus on substance, not sensationalism."

Forum Response: Biffa

A spokesman for Biffa told ePolitix.com: "The report follows on from the EUROHAZCON study in September 1998. This was investigated in 2001 by the Small Area Health Statistics Unit, which did not find any causal link between landfill and specific birth problems.

"With regard to this latest study, it is clear, once again, that no causal link can be found to substantiate the claim that landfill poses a risk to health and that more research is required to determine the real cause for these reported abnormalities. This is reinforced by the principal contributor to the report, Dr Martine Vrijheid, at the Environmental Epidemiology Unit at the Department of Public Health and Policy, who states... 'It remains unclear whether increased risks detected by the study result from living near a hazardous waste landfill site or from other factors... Further research into exposure of residents to landfill sites is needed to interpret the findings'.

"Biffa wholeheartedly endorse this view and as a company we would wish to be part of any further research."