TOXIC CHEMICALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT – IN THE IMMEDIATE
NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS
INCINERATOR IN LYSÁ NAD LABEM
Czech environmental groups Arnika and Lysin have ordered an analysis of meat samples and
soil from the neighborhood of hazardous chemicals incinerator in Lysa nad Labem operating
since 2000. The town of Lysa nad Labem is situated about 30 km northeast of Prague.The
dioxin and PCBs concentrations found in these samples exceeded not only limits set by the
EU but also the daily intake limits of these substances recommended by the WHO (World
Health Organization).
In the chicken meat, the laboratory has found the same dioxin congeners as are released into
the environment by the hazardous chemicals incinerator according to the accessible test
results (see attached graph in the attachment). Unfortunately, this is the first case of an
attempt to monitor the environmental impact of the incinerator. Such a monitoring during the
incinerator operation as well as regular checks of the safety regulations fulfillment were
demanded by the citizens represented by the city government of Lysa nad Labem. The same
recommendations were mentioned in the EIA final statement from May 1995. Both
monitoring and safety regulation fulfillment should have been provided by the state, more
specifically the regional authorities (previously county authorities).
Arnika study results:
In the analyzed samples of chicken meat and soil taken in the neighborhood of Lysa nad
Labem Incinerator, there were no heavy metals found. Alarming are, however, the found
concentrations of persistent organic pollutants, especially PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls)
and PCDD/Fs (polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans) in the chicken meat. These
values exceeded limits set both by European directive for dioxin concentrations in chicken
meat (2 pg I- TEF/g fat) and limits for dioxin and dioxin-like substances daily intake limits in
food recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). The dioxin concentration in soil
can be described as slightly exceeding the tolerated limits.
This means that while consuming 200 g of chicken meat from Lysa nad Labem, a person
receives from 520,2 to 530,4 pgTEQ/kg of dioxin and dioxin-like PCBs, for which the WHO
recommends the daily intake limit 1-4 pgTEg/kg of body weight. In other words, a man with
the weight of 70 kg may consume maximum 70 – 280 pgTEQ of these substances daily.
Compared to the amount of dioxins and PCBs found in the chicken meat from Lysa nad
Labem, a person eating the portion of 200 g meat will exceed the upper limit of daily
limit almost twice. That is quite a lot if we take into account that we are consuming more
pg/TEQ of these substances in other consumed food products.
We have compared the PCBs concentrations in chicken meat with the results of monitoring
carried out by the State Veterinary Inspection of the Czech Republic. The found sum of 7
PCB congeners concentration of 0,141 mg/kg of fat is 3,5times higher than the maximum
values from monitoring of chicken meat. These values exceed 35times the median of
concentrations found in the chicken meat products in the Czech Republic.
Comparing the congeners representation in the analyzed chicken meat samples with the
emissions from the hazardous chemicals incinerator in Lysa nad Labem, we can conclude that
the chicken meat contamination is caused by the emissions from this incinerator owned
previously by the company REAN, a.s., and now acquired by the BDW LINE, Ltd. Company.
(see the graph N.2 and N.3 from the study). For identifying the sources of meat contamination
with polychlorinated biphenyls the basis data with exact congeners description are missing. It
is worth noting that a in the neighborhood of Lysa a dumpsite of former Milovice waste
incinerator is located where the waste with PCBs content was stored. This PCBs containing
waste was also incinerated in the Lysa nad Labem incinerator. The PCBs concentrations in the
chicken meat are quite high in Lysa nad Labem. It is also important to mention that the
incinerator in Lysa nad Labem finished the testing program in 2002 and it received
operational license permit only in January 2003.
Further details are mentioned in the study published in Prague, 24 of June 2003 (16 pages).
Study authors: RNDr. Jindrich Petrlik, Ing. Milan Havel (Arnika – Toxics and Waste
Programme)
Graph: Comparison of presence of different PCDD/Fs congeners in samples from
Lysá nad Labem
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ARNIKA – Toxics and Waste Programme
Chlumova 17
CZ-130 00 Prague 3
tel. + fax: 222 781 471, e-mail: toxic@arnika.org
URL: http://english.arnika.org
Printing and study were financially supported by:
Stichting DOEN, The Mitchell Kapor Foundation and The Tides
Foundation