Sir, - Our organisation is concerned that there is insufficient monitoring of the impact of environmental change on public health in Ireland. There is no medical person on the climate-change discussion group, despite health effects of climate change being one of the first indicators of climate change. There is no medical person on the inter-departmental group on biotechnology. There was no mention of health in the Dβil Report of the Joint Committee on Sustainable Development. It was even more noteworthy that amidst many submissions from various government departments and voluntary agencies to this report, there was no submission from any health board, health authority or the Department of Health.
Of the 100,000 chemicals on the EU market, there is little or no toxicity data on 75,000 and limited data on 25,000. To my knowledge, only four risk assessments of these chemicals are publicly available. We are planning to build incinerators; our organisation was one of the first in Ireland to highlight the complete absence of database on dioxins, furans and PCBs in the human population. After 35 years of adding fluoride to our water supply, it is unbelievable that we do not know the level of this chemical in our bodies.
Our organisation is undertaking the only research of its type in Ireland on the phenomenon of electrosensitivity. We do not have a register of diseases thought to be due to pesticides, climate change or microwave radiation. Our conclusion remains the same; we are told there is no evidence that many environmental issues cause adverse health effects.
The staggering truth is that no-one is looking. - Yours, etc.,
Dr Elizabeth Cullen, Co-chair Irish Doctors' Environmental Association, Kilcullen, Co Kildare.