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Greenpeace's

protest

HONG KONG: Greenpeace activists on Monday protested government plans to burn medical waste at a chemical treatment centre Monday, saying the move could pose a health risk.

Environmental activists from Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, Holland, Trinidad and the United States, occupied a tank at the treatment centre and unfurled a huge banner bearing the slogan "Stop Dioxin."

Greenpeace has said incinerators for medical and municipal waste are linked to health threats and have also produced mercury and dioxin.

The Hong Kong government has proposed using a spare incinerator at the Tsingly island centre to burn medical waste.

Hong Kong produces around seven tonnes of medical waste per day, according to Greenpeace China.

Clement Lam, Greenpeace China campaigner, warned the Hong Kong government move "will seriously jeopardise the health of the Hong Kong public."

The protest coincides with the opening of an international negotiating committee meeting in Boon this week to negotiate the elimination of persistent organic pollutants, POPs, some of the most hazardous chemicals to which natural systems can be exposed.ÑAFP