Ce. Feigley et al., STUDY DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR EVALUATING COMMUNITY-HEALTH EFFECTS OF HAZARDOUS-WASTE INCINERATORS, Journal of environmental systems, 22(3), 1993, pp. 279-295
Incineration is an increasingly employed option for treating hazardous
waste, but possible health effects of hazardous waste incinerator emi
ssions in surrounding communities have received only cursory investiga
tion. Two approaches for assessing such effects, risk assessment and e
nvironmental epidemiology, are described and compared. Risk associated
with hazardous waste incineration has been assessed previously based
on generic emission data. Little is known regarding emissions from spe
cific incinerators and their temporal variations. Thus, an epidemiolog
ic approach was chosen here, partially because it is robust with respe
ct to uncertainties in exposure estimates. Study design concepts and t
heir application to an existing hazardous waste incinerator are discus
sed.