Hundreds of Haifa residents protested on Saturday night, April 18, over Health Ministry findings that linked heightened cancer rates in the city with high levels of air pollution in the area.
Professor Itamar Grotto, head of Public Health Services in the Ministry of Health, announced last week, that half of the cases of cancer in Haifa children were due to the city’s air pollution. Grotto’s study also found that, for 16 of the 18 types of cancer checked, from 1997–2008 rates of cancer in general were 16% higher in the Haifa metropolitan area than in the rest of the country. For certain types of cancer – lung cancer, for instance – the difference in rates was even higher: 29% more in Haifa than in the rest of the country. Haifa is home to Israel’s largest seaport and a number of petrochemical factories.
A demonstration against air pollution in Haifa bay (Photo: Megama Yeruka)
Since the dissolution of the previous government in December which saw Yael German (Yesh Atid) resign from her position as health minister, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has served as the interim health minister. MK Dov Khenin (Hadash – Joint List) who headed the deputy committee which dealt with the environment and planning for the Haifa Bay area, said Tuesday, April 14: “These findings confirm our worst fears. A clear and drastic change is needed in the management of industry and the handling of chemicals which are dangerous to the residents of the Haifa Bay area.”
Related:
- Activist groups furious at Health Ministry for backtracking on Haifa air pollution
- MK Khenin: Privatized Haifa Oil Refineries air pollution must be cut
- New Knesset subcommittee launched to examine Haifa Bay environmental issues
- MK Khenin questions need of establishing new privatized port in Haifa Bay
