A packed meeting of the Byker Incineration Working Group ended in disarray last night (23 May) when the results of the long awaited report on the toxic ash contamination of allotments and footpaths across Newcastle was finally made public.

The meeting heard from Dr Tanja Pless-Mulloli of Newcastle University that:

*the ash spread on allotments and footpaths was "massively contaminated" with cancer causing dioxins up to 800 times above safe levels:

*Cadmium contamination was "considerable in the majority of sites" and

*Copper, lead and zinc were major contaminates in the large majority of samples with "massive elevations" above normal levels.

*The Walker Road allotments, adjacent to Byker incinerator, where no ash was spread, also had dioxin levels up to 8 times background levels, giving clear evidence that dioxin contamination was also coming from the chimney at the incinerator itself.

The report also revealed that the independent scientists had recommended that no vegetables from the affected sites should be eaten for the rest of this year until further testing had been carried out. This recommendation is in contradiction to the advice given by Newcastle and north Tyne Health Authority which was that vegetables need only be scrubbed and peeled but were safe to be consumed.

The meeting ended in uproar when the Chair, Mr Bob Stewart, refused to allow further questioning of Dr Pless-Mulloli or the director of Public Health, Dr Tricia Cresswell.

Val Barton, spokes person for CAIR said: "The results are even worse than we expected. local people are horrified. Our food is not safe and unknown amounts of dioxins have been raining down on the people of Byker and Walker for the past 20 years. WE demand a full public inquiry into this whole fiasco and expect the Environment Agency to commence criminal proceedings against the operators of the plant and the City Council."