Those who hang the laundry in the IJmond first get a finger over the washing line from habit. So that the clean, white wax does not immediately get dirty again from the black fabric. A few years ago, that habit called in politics: there is really more material around Tata Steel than in other areas? And how harmful is that substance to health?
The RIVM did since 2020 Four time researchand every time the answer was the same: yes, more coarse matter drops in the IJmond than elsewhere. And yes, that’s harmful, Especially for children. Because they come into contact with the fabrics faster by playing outside. The amounts of lead and PAHs found ensure greater risk of brain damage and cancer. Those substances are released when making steel.
Andy Palmen, the director Greenpeace in the Netherlands, does not have a good word for it: “This new report shows that nothing has changed in a year and that the measures that Tata Steel takes are more than insufficient to protect local residents against the harmful emissions. The time of paping and wet must now be over,” he thinks.
Wijk aan Zee de Pineut
People in Wijk aan Zee in particular are the pinch: the concentrations of toxic substances are higher than in Beverwijk, Velsen-Noord, IJmuiden and Heemskerk. But there too, the quantities of harmful metals and PAHs rise in the pan compared to so -called ‘control locations’ De Rijp, Castricum, De Zilk and Amersfoort, which are not under the smoke of heavy industry.