A FORMER government advisor told a public meeting pollution from waste incinerators could contribute to heart attacks and aggravate asthma.

Dr Dick Van Steenis spoke at a meeting of Stop Newport Incinerator Campaign (SNIC), which is aiming to put a stop to proposals to build an incinerator on Bowleze Common on land south of Llanwern Steelworks.

More than 1,600 people have signed petitions opposing the idea and more than 100 people attended the meeting at Nash Village Hall on Thursday evening.

The Bowleze Common scheme is one of several schemes proposed by firms bidding for the Prosiect Gwyrdd contract, a joint initative by five councils including Newport to cut the amount of waste sent to landfill.

Dr Van Steenis, who is a former government advisor on air pollution, said pollution from incinerators can irritate breathing tubes and reduce breathing capacity and aggravate asthma, while it can also contribute to heart attacks.

He said under EU laws on waste the safest technology must be used to protect public health, and that the public must be involved from the start in what is done with the waste.

“We have got a situation where the public are not being invited in to work with the council,” claimed Dr Van Steenis. “The councils are deciding and they are signing up preferred bidders and they are not getting in until the very end.”

He said a safer option was plasma gasification, which uses electricity to break down waste into gas and slag.

Dr Van Steenis said the only by-products it produces are either needed or used, such as hydrogen which can be burnt for electricity or sold.

He added that 90 per cent of the effects of the Bowleaze Common site would be in Monmouthshire and over the estuary in Avonmouth.

Other speakers at the meeting included Rob Hepworth, chairman of SNIC, and Pippa Bartolotti, deputy leader of the Green party in Wales.