There is a ‘direct relationship’ between the emissions of Tata Steel in IJmuiden and the risk of illness among local residents. Residents of nearby Wijk aan Zee live 2.5 months shorter due to particulate matter and nitrogen emissions from the steel factory. This is stated by the RIVM in new research. Residents see the results as confirmation of their point. “Tata has always denied and downplayed this. Now it has been proven very clearly.”
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) also concludes that the risk of lung cancer and asthma in the region is greater due to the presence of the steel factory. In addition, residents of the IJmond experience a lot of nuisance due to odor, dust and noise. In Wijk aan Zee, even 80 percent of the residents suffer from the factory and 40 percent sleep poorly.
The RIVM states that the most health benefits in the region can be achieved by reducing Tata’s emissions, and is therefore providing this advice to the cabinet. The institute collected numerous historical measurement data and research and thus reconstructed the entire chain, from emissions by Tata to the health risks of local residents.
Overarching story
The final verdict is that Tata’s emissions pose ‘demonstrable’ health risks. “We now present an overarching story,” says RIVM researcher Leendert Gooijer. “The added value is also that we have investigated it for several substances. We show that Tata Steel’s emissions contribute tens of percent to the concentrations of various substances in the environment and that residents are therefore extra exposed to, for example, particulate matter and nitrogen. There is a direct connection with their health.”
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It was therefore also investigated how much influence living in the area around the former Hoogovens has on the average life expectancy of people. At current emissions, they are 2.5 months lower in Wijk aan Zee, and one to one and a half months lower in IJmuiden, Velsen and Beverwijk. If emissions from traffic and other companies, for example, are also taken into account, residents of the region will live about nine months shorter due to the emission of harmful substances. Tata therefore makes a significant contribution to this.
A number of comments are in order about the figures, the researchers say. For example, only current emissions were taken into account. In the past, the factory emitted many more harmful substances. “The health damage was probably even greater then, but we did not look at that in this study,” says Gooijer.
‘We know enough’
We also only looked at substances whose effect on life expectancy has been scientifically proven, and sufficient measurement data had to be available to demonstrate an effect. For example, too little is known about the emissions of substances at certain peak times and their effect on health. In addition, it has not been established whether the sum of different substances in the body leads to additional risks.
“There are indications for that,” says Gooijer. “It is expected that if you were to take all that into account, the effect on life expectancy would be greater than 2.5 months. At the same time, I don’t want to pretend that we don’t yet know enough about Tata’s effect on the environment and health. We know enough. The ministry can get started on this.”
Vivianne Heijnen (CDA), State Secretary for the Environment, points out that ‘death two and a half months earlier means in practice that people become ill sooner and experience complaints’. In an initial response, she calls it ‘unacceptable that people run unnecessary risks’. “I understand that people are shocked by these results, this really requires follow-up actions. We have set up an expert group that will look at exactly what will happen next. It has to be green and clean.”
The question is what the government can and will do. Heijnen: “I don’t have a miracle cure, but it is clear that we take it very seriously. That is why I am happy with this expert group: it will look very specifically at which actions are really necessary. There is no future for Tata in the Netherlands if it is not green and clean. That’s why we have to do the right things.”
Bite of particulate matter
Residents of the region see the results of the research as confirming their point. “Tata’s emissions undeniably lead to health damage,” says Sanne Walvisch of action group Frissewind.nu. “Today and in the future. That has now been established. We are talking about all kinds of damage that is 100% demonstrably caused by Tata. Something that Tata has always denied and downplayed. We live here on average 9 months shorter and no less than 2.5 months of that is entirely due to one company: Tata Steel. Nowhere is the influence of one company so great. If you take a bite of particulate matter in the center of Amsterdam, that bite of particulate matter comes from hundreds of sources. Here, one company is responsible for almost all the pollution.”
We are talking about all kinds of damage that is 100% demonstrably caused by Tata. Something that Tata has always denied and downplayed
Walvisch notes that some patients owe their illness entirely to Tata Steel’s emissions, ‘despite all the filters and measures that have already been implemented’. “And on top of that are all the other forms of health damage: from insomnia due to the noise to emergency admissions of children due to asthma. That is bizarre and unacceptable.”
The damage to health in Wijk aan Zee
• 81 percent of residents have suffer from dust. 77 percent experience odor nuisance
• 62 percent experience noise pollution42 percent of the residents sleeps poorly
• 79 percent of people is worried about the effect of the industry on health
• People in Wijk aan Zee to live 2.5 months shorter due to Tata’s emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen.
• 4 percent of annual new cases of lung cancer is attributable to Tata. Previously this was probably more.
• 3 percent of annual new cases of asthma is attributable to nitrogen emissions
• Brain damage due to lead: approximately 0.12 points IQ loss. In Beverwijk that is even 0.2 points
The figures on the number of cancer cases are considerably lower than before earlier research came forward. Four out of every hundred annual cases of lung cancer in Wijk aan Zee can be attributed to Tata. Previously it was found that lung cancer in the region up to 51 percent occurs more often than in the rest of the Netherlands. According to the researchers, this is partly because only the current situation has been examined, and not historical emissions.
Tata’s emissions remain within legal standards. In many cases, however, the limit values at which health can be endangered are exceeded. earlier noted the Dutch Safety Board also states that the law ‘is not always sufficient to ensure that the exposure of local residents to harmful emissions remains low enough’.
Heijnen: “Tata complies with the permit, but we still see a reduction in lifespan, which is not good. Given the duty of care that we have as a government, we must look at: are the standards strict enough? Previously, this link had never been established, but now for the first time we have a study that shows this.”
Tata Steel response
Tata said in a response that he was ‘touched’ by the RIVM findings. “We have been part of the IJmond for generations and have grown together over the years. We know that people in the immediate area are concerned about the impact of our company on their health, and we take this into account. That is precisely why the RIVM findings affect us.”
“The legal and social standards for companies like Tata Steel have changed over the years and will continue to change. And our company is changing along with it. The report shows that our emissions comply with legal limit values. Nevertheless, we have taken a large number of measures in recent years to further reduce our impact on the environment and the nuisance that people experience. And we will continue to do so because our ambition goes further.”
Improvements
The factory, owned by an Indian company, says emissions of PAHs, particulate matter, heavy metals and lead have been reduced in recent years. “The effects of other measures are not yet visible. We want to achieve major improvements in the field of particulate matter and heavy metals by the end of 2023. (..) According to planning, an installation at the pellet factory will be put into operation in 2025 that will reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.”
“We have been making steel in the IJmond for a hundred years and want to continue doing so for the next hundred years. But in a different way. We are aware that health must be an important part of our Green Steel plan, in addition to climate and a cleaner living environment. With our Green Steel Plan, we want to write the next chapter in which coal is redundant, we reduce our CO2emissions by 35 to 40 percent in 2030 and CO by 20452-be neutral.”
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