There are no studies which prove any link between cancer and the power stations, Health Minister Joe Cassar said this afternoon.
Addressing a news conference which included the participation of several health experts, Dr Cassar said it was important not to generalise and not to use individual cases especially when related to cancer because this was a disease that caused a lot of fear.
He was referring to statements made by the Labour Party as part of the electoral campaign.
Nadine Delicata, who heads the health screening centre, said that in the three years that the centre has been open, the attendance rate improved to 70 per cent from 40 per cent in 2009, reaching the government target.
Until 2012, 36,000 women were invited for screening. Of these, 25,000 called for the screening and more than 2000 were called back for further tests. Early cancer was detected in 116 cases.
There was also an excellent response rate for the newly launched colon screening programme with a 32 per cent acceptance rate in just a month.
Principal medical officer (medical statistics) Neville Calleja noted that World Health Organisation studies put Malta with the second lowest rate of cancer in the EU.
Malta had a high rate of asthma but although the prevalence in young people had increased, it decreased in teenagers, he said. The south of Malta had the lowest rate of asthma - 5.7 per cent in men compared to the 6.8 per cent average and seven per cent in women, compared to 8.1 per cent average.
The greatest cause of lung cancer, he said, was smoking.
Dr Calleja said he searched for studies and research linking asthma to living close to a power station and these links were made when it was run on coal.
He also found very old studies linking asthma with fuel oil but these were carried out before the EU restrictions came into place.
Dr Calleja said that there was a strong element of genetics when it came to asthma since it was estimated that 60 per cent of people inherited asthma. This was besides other environmental factors such as pets, passive smoking and pollution.
Respiratory consultant Martin Balzan, who is also president of the Medical Association of Malta, said that in 1989 he started collecting data on people admitted to hospital with asthma and found that, up to 1994,the number of people from Cottonera who went to hospital suffering from the disease were three times over and above the national average. This study had been carried out at a time when the south had the power station, the Drydocks, grit blasting and heavy traffic in Zabbar road.
Another asthma hotspot was Msida. But once the tunnels beneath the university were opened, the rate of asthma in Msida dropped.
Dr Balzan said that in 2001, he found that people who lived close to Zabbar Road had a higher prevalence of asthma than those who lived 250 metres away from it.
Dr Cassar emphasised the importance of not using patients as a political tool saying this was unethical and created a lot of fear in people.
“It is important in a political campaign not to make generalisations as mistakes can be made,” he said.