A CHEMICALS expert will speak at a forum on the health impacts of coal mining and coal seam gas extraction in Gunnedah this coming Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Dr Mariann Lloyd-Smith is the senior advisor to the National Toxics Network and IPEN, an international chemical safety network.
She is also a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the national industrial chemical regulator and was a member of the UN Expert Group on Climate Change and Chemicals.
Last year Dr Lloyd-Smith co-authored the National Toxics Network report on the chemical impacts of hydraulic fracturing in the Australian shale and coal seam gas industry.
This weekend she will speak about the health effects of the chemicals used in coal seam gas extraction at the forum, hosted by the North West Alliance Against Coal and Coal Seam Gas.
British GP Dr Dick Van Steenis will talk about the health effects of coal mining, which he has been researching since 1997.
Camberwell resident Wendy Bowman will also present information she has gathered and Jake Coffey, from the University of NSW’s Research Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, will discuss the process of establishing health impact assessments for mining-affected communities. Following the speakers, attendees will be able to give their opinions on the establishment of a health impact assessment.
The forum is being held as part of a process to develop a health impact assessment to assess the effects of coal and coal seam gas mining on health in the Gunnedah Basin.
The forum will be held at Gunnedah Town Hall from 2pm to 4pm and will be followed by the opening of an art exhibition by former Liverpool Plains artist Jayney Carter, whose works explore the impacts of coal seam gas extraction.