Health Minister Joe Cassar yesterday assembled six healthcare experts to deny any link exists between power stations run on heavy fuel oil and cancer.

It is important that we don’t use patients and health to make sweeping statements

They cited local and international studies and statistics to shoot down Labour Party leader Joseph Muscat’s claim that the Delimara power station was a “cancer and asthma factory”.

The issue of cancer had been raised by a grandmother of nine who spoke in nearby Marsaxlokk during a Labour event last week, saying eight of her grandchildren had asthma and a three-year-old grandchild had lung cancer.

Malta had the second lowest rate of cancer in the EU, according to World Health Organisation data cited by Neville Calleja, Principal Medical Officer for Medical Statistics.

As for asthma, he said Malta did have a high rate but people living in the south had the lowest compared to the national average. The incidence among men in the south was 5.7 per cent compared to the average of 6.8 per cent, and for women it was seven per cent compared to the average of 8.1 per cent.

The incidence of asthma in young people had increased over the past few years but decreased in teenagers, Dr Calleja said. “I searched to find studies linking asthma to power stations and the only ones I found linking the two were because the power stations were run on coal.”

Studies linking asthma to power stations running on heavy fuel oil were old, conducted on buildings not in line with EU directives, he added.

Some 60 per cent of asthma cases were genetically linked and it can be caused by other allergens such as pets, plants, smoking and air pollution.

Respiratory consultant Martin Balzan referred to studies he had carried out that found “the most probable source of asthma is pollution from cars”.

The fine dust known as particulate matter hit high levels, beyond those established by EU law, during peak traffic and immediately dropped during the rest of the day, he said.

Dr Balzan said a study he had carried out in 2004 revealed that people who lived next to Żabbar Road had a higher incidence of asthma when compared to people who lived 250 metres away.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Refalo, an oncology consultant, said smoking was the most common cause of lung cancer but Malta still had one of the lowest rates in Europe: “We see around 120 individuals a year – nine of 10 are linked to smoking.”

Dr Cassar appealed for specific cases not to be used – especially those that were cancer-related – as “it created a lot of fear”.

“It is important that, in a political campaign, we don’t use patients and health to make sweeping statements as mistakes will be made,” he said.