DON'T LET THE DEAD KILL THE LIVING! Attend the P&Z Meeting Tonight, May 27.

Posted by Paula Antolini
4th Article in Crematorium Series

DON'T LET THE DEAD KILL THE LIVING!

We need YOU to please come to the next MEETING of the Bethel Planning & Zoning Commission tonight, on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 at 7:00p.m. in Room D at the Clifford J. Hurgin Municipal Center on  School Street Bethel, CT.

It is very important MANY PEOPLE attend this meeting so residents can tell the P&Z members that we are against the proposed change to the zoning regulations to allow CREMATORIES in the Town of Bethel’s Clarke Business Park of Route 53! CREMATORIES are a public health and safety hazard!

Attorney Peter Olsen represents the applicant, Mr. Shawn McLaughlin, who presently owns Monocrete Step Co. of CT, LLC, in Clarke Business Park, where he wants the crematorium allowed at the same location of 12 Trowbridge Drive in Bethel, CT. He wants to place a crematory business at the location where the company now provides "precast concrete manufacturer, of steps, concrete basement entrances, and precast concrete products in the greater Danbury area" to the public. The CREMATORY is NOT presently a permitted use in Clarke Business Park.

Per the Crematory Association of North America, the average number of bodies cremated annually per CREMATORY is 400 (McLaughlin said he would cremate approximately 500 per year.) Per the EPA, the maximum “safe” exposure level of mercury vapor for humans over one year < 25g. The average estimated release of mercury vapor per cremated body with the dental implants is 3g. Mercury vapor is toxic to humans; it is colorless and odorless.  Is there really a "safe" level at all for putting toxins in our air that especially affects children and unborn babies of pregnant women?  Or our air, water and soil?

This means that only 8 people with dental implants can be cremated a year in order for the neighbors who live or work in close proximity of the CREMATORY to be “safe!” According to the latest figures 46% of people in Connecticut choose cremation! Up from 20% approximately ten years ago. You do the math! Since we breathe AIR, this concerns all of us!  We do not want our water or soil contaminated either.  Mercury vapor gets into our water and soil via rain or snow.

In January 2010, Lisa P. Jackson of the US EPA, in response to a letter from the US Congress written by Dennis Kucinich, wrote there are serious health impacts from low-level exposure to mercury vapor. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration‘s (OSHA) Guidelines for Mercury Vapor, the effects on humans from chronic exposure via inhalation are: brain damage, central and peripheral nervous system damage, kidney and lung damage, eye damage, body tremors, edemas, rashes, depression, insomnia, gastrointestinal disturbance, & memory loss.

Please consider signing the petition and you can also post your comments too:
http://www.change.org/petitions/town-of-bethel-do-not-allow-a-crematorium-incineration-of-human-rema...

PETITION:

Do not allow a crematorium (incineration of human remains) in Bethel CT (Clarke Business Park) or anywhere in vicinity. Do not change the zoning permit which prevents this type of business.

A crematorium poses numerous health hazards, including toxic vapors which can get into the water and earth and cause extreme illness and even death. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has stated that exposure to mercury/metallic vapor on the human body, even in chronic low doses, can cause all sorts of negative effects in adults, children and animals, such as birth defects in babies, neurological defects, damage or destruction of nerve tissue, effects to the the visual cortex and the cerebellum (brain section that controls movement and balance) and it can permanently damage or fatally injure the brain and kidneys, or cause death.

Mercury concentrations released into the outdoor air is not as much a concern but we do not want to breathe any toxins at all, and when the mercury lands on soil or water via rain or snow, it causes hazardous contamination.   "When mercury enters bodies of water, biological processes transform it to methylmercury, a highly toxic and bioaccumulative form. Fish can absorb methylmercury from their food and directly from water as it passes over their gills."

Besides now having dead bodies (human remains) aboard trucks driving through Bethel roads each month, the larger concern should be about the impact on the air quality in Bethel to humans and animals, and how far the pollution might travel, or if anyone has DONE (or plans on conducting) an air quality impact test. Or has anyone studied crematorium impact data, such as the amount of toxins in crematory emissions (for instance, mercury as a source of pollution through incinerated dental amalgam fillings). There is also a concern about communicative diseases of which the individuals might have passed, especially if they also might  consider burning hospital waste. 

A crematorium also negatively affects real estate values. There is also concern about how the increasing popularity of cremation will impact traffic and all of the above problems and quality of life.

More important information will be revealed at tonight's meeting, please consider attending.

DON'T LET THE DEAD KILL THE LIVING!

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