Nanan warns

A NEW BREED of dwarf-like humans living under an orange cloud of pollutants could soon populate Cedros warned Tabaquite MP Dr Adesh Nanan as he spoke about the potential ill effects from a proposed aluminium smelter.

He yesterday moved a private member’s motion in the House of Representatives calling on Government to say what type and level of emissions would come from the smelters and the harmful effect of these emissions.

“These emissions can stunt growth. You’ll have dwarfs in Cedros. You’ll have a new breed of human beings coming from Cedros.”

Nanan said the chemical — polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — could enter the human body through the skin, get into the area’s water supply and even contaminate cow’s milk. Also likely to be emitted from the smelter, he said, was nitrous oxide, which would create an orange cloud that can permanently linger in Cedros.

Moreso, Nanan warned, Cedros residents would live with unusual weather patterns because the gaseous emissions would cause a local build-up of heat. “You will have dramatic climate change, only in that area.”

Instead of Trinidad ever being a tropical paradise, he said, it would become like parts of Indonesia where air pollution makes it very hard to breathe. While Nanan who is a dentist, urged the fluoridation of the water supply to the degree of one part per million to improve dental health, he was horrified by the prospective effect of much higher doses of fluoride compounds being released into the environment by the smelter.

“Hydrogen Fluoride damages bones and teeth, inhibits protein synthesis and the formation of DNA and has a detrimental effect on the body.” He said Prime Minister Patrick Manning might be initiating a genocide.

“A smelter will produce tonnes of Hydrogen Fluoride.” He said another smelter chemical, Sodium Fluoride, has been used by the Russians and Germans in nerve gases such as Sarin. Smelters also emit greenhouse gases, he warned.

Nanan chided Government for failing to enact Water Pollution Rules and Air Pollution Rules.

Alluding to his earlier remarks that the smelter would create dwarfs, he said the Government should build the smelter in Guyana, quipping: “If you want to develop a new nation...I don’t think you want to create a new people.”

In reply, Public Utilities and Environment Minister Pennelope Beckles said Government did indeed care for the environment. She however did not say anything about the smelter issue.