Inspection of crematoria, funeral parlors sought

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Council has requested the Department of Environment and Natural Resources through its Environmental Management Bureau to inspect all crematoria, cemeteries and funeral parlors in the city to find out if they have complied with the proper waste disposal.

Councilor Nestor Archival, chairman of the Committee on Environment of the Cebu City Council, is afraid that some of the administrators of these establishments are not complying with the required standard of disposing their wastes that may pose a great health risk to the public.

Archival explained to his fellow city legislators that crematoria, cemeteries and funeral parlors generate formaldehyde which poses risk to water sources if not properly disposed of and endangers public health.

He said that after discovering the dangers of the waste generated by these establishments, the DENR decided to upgrade their classification to have a full-blown environmental impact assessment.

But Archival said there might be a possibility that some of the administrators of these kind of establishments still fail to comply with the required standards if the government agency tasked to oversee their operations are just too lax in their job.

Emissions from crematoria or crematories contain a varying degree of pollutants such as particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides, hydrogen chloride, heavy metals (cadmium, mercury, and lead), dioxins and furans.

A study shows that one of the major public health concerns of people living near crematoria is not mercury but other pollutants such as particulate matter and pollutants from incomplete combustion.

To ensure that these businesses would not contribute to health hazards of the public, the DENR has required the administrators of crematoria, cemeteries and funeral parlors to submit environmental management programs to the EMB about their waste disposal process.

According to Archival, the DENR should see to it that the programs are properly implemented by these business establishments to ensure safety of the public. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB (THE FREEMAN)