Burning up worn tires unhealthy, unlawful

A NONGOVERNMENT organization on Wednesday warned the public against the burning of used tires and trash during the New Year celebration to prevent toxic pollutants from endangering the public health, climate and environment. “Burning up worn tires on New Year’s Eve and setting firecracker wrappings, used boga [PVC cannons], plastics and other discards on fire after the festivities are unhealthy as well as unlawful,” said Manny Calonzo, president of the EcoWaste Coalition.

The EcoWaste Coalition appealed for public vigilance against open burning as the whole nation gears up to welcome 2010 saying that it is “unhealthy because it releases toxic pollutants that could cause shortness of breath and headaches, infuriate the eyes, throat and skin, cause lung irritation and congestion, and trigger cancers and other life-threatening health issues.”

Calonzo said that the most notorious among these pollutants are dioxins, a proven human carcinogen quoting the International Agency for Research on Cancer that could cause cancers and other serious disorders in the reproductive, developmental, immune and nervous systems.

“We would like to remind the public that used tires become a toxic waste when they are set in flames,” Calonzo added.

Besides dioxins, burning tires also releases a toxic soup of pollutants including lead, mercury and other heavy metals, carbon monoxide, solvents, numerous products of incomplete combustion and other chemicals of concerns, he said.

He further said that “to minimize the risk from health and environmental contaminants as well as encourage recycling for resource conservation,” the lawmakers should consider it necessary to make open burning unlawful.

Calonzo also said that two major environmental laws—the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act and the Clean Air Act, which prohibit open burning of trash and penalize violators with a fine of P300 to P1,000, or imprisonment of one to 15 days, or both.

Moreover, the group warned the public that toxic byproducts from open burning can contaminate the food supply as toxins are transported via air and water and deposited onto leafy plants that are consumed by farm animals or ingested by fish and other aquatic organisms.

The EcoWaste Coalition urged the public to shun firecrackers and fireworks and thwart pollution from the illegal burning of tires and holiday trash for safer and climate-friendly New Year celebrations. –IRA KAREN APANAY, Manila Times