Thursday, February 22, 2001

By Jan Wesner Childs
Stars and Stripes

Filters installed at the Enviro-Tech incinerator near Atsugi Naval Air Facility have cut toxic emissions to acceptable environmental levels, according to the Japanese government.

The Japan Ministry of the Environment on Tuesday released the first results of a one-year study of the dioxin levels around the incinerator.

Kiyoshi Iwasaki, chief of the Air Environment Section in Tokyo, said Wednesday that the emission levels for a three-month period starting on April 1, 2000, were within what Japan considers a safe level.

But Iwasaki cautioned that all the results are not in.

"The survey result is only for the three months," he said. "We therefore need to wait for the outcome of one full year survey to determine the average for a year."

The one-year study will end April 1, he said.

"If the level of dioxin remains the same as now, there is no threat to health, but we have to wait for a full year of data before making any determination," Iwasaki said.

The incinerator and the noxious smoke from its emissions long has been a source of concern for residents and base officials at Atsugi. The U.S. Navy filed a lawsuit in Japanese court last March asking that the incinerator be shut down.

Military officials did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment on the study.

Iwasaki said the dioxin levels from the incinerator during the first three months of the study were below the level considered hazardous.

The levels for those dates averaged, per cubic meter of air, .20 picograms, .46 picograms and .49 picograms at three different sites studied.

There were some individual days, however, when the levels still exceeded the maximum of 0.6 picograms that is considered acceptable. A picogram is one-trillionth of a gram.

The emissions had reached a high of 54 picograms in the summer of 1999, more than 90 times the acceptable level.

About 8,000 Americans and Japanese live or work on the base.

Before the filters were installed, base workers had taken measures to combat the emissions, including installing air filters in homes, frequently washing down playground equipment and keeping schoolchildren indoors on particularly smoky days.

At Atsugi, children under age 6 have a 1 in 10,000 chance of contracting cancer after three years, according to the Navy’s Environmental Health Center. The center compares the cancer risk at Atsugi to living in Denver, where the rate of skin cancer increases with high altitude.

Enviro-Tech, the company that runs the incinerator, installed special filters after those high levels were reported.

"Looking at the data, it seems that the filters are working," Iwasaki said.

He said the filters need to be monitored closely to ensure proper maintenance, and that there are discussions about continuing the monitoring after the study ends this year.

Chiyomi Sumida contributed to this report.

Back to February's stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home