New Delhi, 14th July 2003. The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) has called for a worldwide ban on burn technologies today on the Global Day of Action (GDA). Waste burning of all kinds causes emission of several Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS), which poisons our food chain. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) reports that incinerators account for 69 percent of dioxins, emission worldwide. Dioxins are endocrine disrupters, which impact our reproductive system among other things. GDA coincides with the first day of the Seventh Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC 7) meeting of the Stockholm Convention on POPs underway in Geneva. GAIA comprises of 227 groups and individuals from 61 countries. In India, environmental organizations like Srishti and Toxics Link are part of this global coalition.

Waste incineration is a dying technology. As a waste treatment technology, it is unreliable and produces a secondary waste stream more dangerous than the original. As an energy production method, it is inefficient and waste of resources. As an economic development tool, it is a catastrophe, which drains money out of local communities and creates scarce and often dangerous jobs, says Ravi Agarwal of Toxics Link

The global resistance against incinerators and other dirty forms of waste disposal is growing. Thus, world wide, the incineration industry has proven itself to be phenomenally unpopular. The third world countries like India are witnessing a spread of this dirty technology. International financial institutions like World Bank Group are encouraging it despite the violation of several multilateral environment agreements it entails.

In the name of technology transfer, waste incineration, is not only being propagated, but also subsidized in India through the programs of Ministry of Non Conventional Energy Sources and our Ministry of Environment and Forests. The attempts by the developed countries to include incinerators in the WTO list of environmental good and services is a case in point. A survey done in September 2002 by Srishti for bio-medical waste incinerators revealed that incinerators in the state of Delhi are on a constant decline but open burning of waste is equally hazardous. The plight of other cities leaves a lot to be desired. As a consequence of Public Interest Litigation filed by Srishti alternate technologies were incorporated in the rules and PVC was banned from being sent to the incinerator.

Indians are yet to realize the gravity of dioxin contamination and its related health effects. Two recent studies based on human samples, have been detected to contain very high amounts of dioxin in samples of Indian breast milk, meat and dairy products. The day will also be marked by the global release of a report “Waste Incineration: A Dying technology”. The report can be downloaded at www.no-burn.org.