An (unpublished in the paper - hence published here) to the Editor of the Irish Times

 Smog city from PM 2.5 dust. Cityscape with bad air pollution. PM 2.5 concept

Stock Photo ID: 285485560

Copyright: Akarat Phasura

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PM2.5 and the Irish Cement Factory

 

sent: Tue 26/09/2023 11:51

Dear Sir,

 

We read with interest the article by Kevin O’Sullivan (Irish Times, 25^th September 2023) on the risk that PM2.5 pose in relation to public health.

We would like to highlight that in December 2020, the EPA had a public oral hearing on whether or not to grant a licence to CRH (Irish Cement Factory in Mungret, Co. Limerick) to burn 90,000 tonnes of waste annually at its facility in Limerick. Included on that list are end of use tyres, animal waste, plastic, solvents etc.

Both of us are members of Limerick Against Pollution (LAP) and we presented at that EPA hearing along with a number of experts our grave concerns should a licence would be granted to CRH, but unfortunately we failed in our endeavours. Prior to the hearing LAP had organised a number of events and written a number of publications to raise public awareness should this licence be granted and the threats it would pose to public health.

Sadly, the EPA did not take into consideration our scientifically valid objections. Burning waste in Mungret will create a number of hazardous compounds that will pollute the air and with rain, they will pollute the Shannon estuary and hence the food chain.

Sadly, only time will tell how the decision to grant this licence will unfold for the thousands of people living in and around the cement plant. 

 

Yours sincerely,

Ms Claire Keating, Former GE Candidate for Green Party in Limerick West

Dr Ioannis Zabetakis, Associate Professor in Food Chemistry, University of Limerick

 

 

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My comment  (5.10.23) : It seems that the esteemed Editor of the Irish Times did not find our letter to her/his liking. Probably, our referral to CRH (is it a state within a state?) and to EPA did not go down well.

 

Letter to the Editor: The horsemeat scandal

Letter to the Editor; Irish Times; 11.1.23 

Sir, – 

Regarding “How Ireland was blamed, then praised, for exposing horsemeat scandal a decade ago” (Kevin O’Sullivan, News, January 7th), there are two dimensions to this food fraud scandal. The first one is the fraud against the consumers, where horsemeat was sold as beef meat (which is highlighted excellently by Kevin O’Sullivan). 

The second dimension is the fact that meat from racing horses had entered the food chain and this meat was tainted with phenylbutazone (or “bute”). 

Bute is an anti-inflammatory drug that is given to racing horses and causes a potentially fatal disorder in humans called aplastic anaemia. 

For weeks (if not months) in 2013, there was a discussion on which levels of bute are “safe” in meat for human consumption but according to the precautionary principle (article 7 of EC 178/2002: “in specific circumstances where, following an assessment of available information, the possibility of harmful effects on health is identified but scientific uncertainty persists, provisional risk management measures necessary to ensure the high level of health protection chosen in the Community may be adopted, pending further scientific information for a more comprehensive risk assessment”), there are no safe levels of bute in meat which can be consumed by humans.

The precautionary principle wasn’t applied appropriately, and this non-application led to exposure of consumers to bute. – Yours, etc,

IOANNIS ZABETAKIS, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Limerick.

HSE food errors

 

Letter to the Editor, The Sunday Times - Ireland, Sunday 16.1.2022.

The full paper, co-written with my colleague Dr Audrey Tierney is here

Loopholes lead to food tragedy

Letter to the Editor; Sunday Times; 11/11/18