Due to the controversial nature of GGD’s investigation into cancer cases in the area around Tata Steel at IJmuiden, it is true that the name of the steel company was not mentioned in the investigation report. This says Peter Heskes, former municipal ombudsman in The Hague. At the request of the Kenmerland Safety District, consideration was given to preparing the report.
In a report last summer, the GGD concluded that lung cancer and melanoma have been relatively more common in recent years among residents of the Harlem and Egmond area. For example, lung cancer in both men and women from Beverwijk was 25 percent more common than the average in the rest of the Netherlands.
The name of the steel company Tata Steel did not appear in the final report, while this was the case in the concepts. This was a conscious choice for GGD director Bert van de Velden. Van de Velden personally intervened several times to remove the connection with Tata Steel, according to documents obtained by Noord-Hollands Dagblad through an appeal to the Government Information (Public Access) Act.
Hiskes, rightly, called on the director to intervene, because no research had been done into the cause of the cancer. “It’s a cancer prevention and survival study.”
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But according to IJmondig founder Elaine Windmouth, big polluters can never be held responsible in this way. “I find it sad.”
“We saw the same argument in RIVM,” Vindemut says. “They say there is no mandate to look at the source of the contamination. Now this gentleman is also saying about GGD and the cause of more cancer cases. I say: Your job is to advocate for health from the locals.”
Who is this steel giant and why does Tata Steel often appear in the news? NOS on 3 demonstrates it in this video:
