Trash Incinerators:
"Incinerators release carcinogenic (cancer-causing) and toxic chemicals from their smoke stacks, including heavy metals (such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and beryllium); acid gases, including hydrogen fluoride;[1,pg.11] partially-burned organic material such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), herbicide residues, and wood preservatives; other organic chemicals, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); and dioxins and furans.[3] One recent analysis identified 192 volatile organic compounds being emitted by a solid waste incinerator.[4] Several PAHs and dioxins and furans are known or suspected human carcinogens. Dioxins were named as "known" human carcinogens by the World Health Organization in 1997.[5] Now a series of reports from around the world have cast even more doubt on the safety of solid waste incineration, further dimming the industry's prospects in the U.S."[1]
“People who live within 7.5 kilometers (4.6 miles) of a municipal solid waste incinerator have an increased likelihood of getting several different cancers, according to a 1996 study of 14 million people living near 72 incinerators in Britain. The chemical has been linked to fetal damage and a reproductive disease called endometriosis. Scientific American (January 1994) and Science (September 10, 1993) have articles on a study of cancer rates in victims of a chemical factory accident that released dioxin in Seveso, Italy in 1989. The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine reviewed research related to the exposure of soldiers in Vietnam to Agent Orange, a herbicide that contains dioxin, and concluded that exposure increased the risk of Hodgkins disease, lung, and prostate cancer.”[2]