Opposition spokesman on health, Dr Kenneth Baugh has warned that the heavy smoke from the fire at the municipal dump was affecting the health of people in neighbouring districts as well as distant communities in St Catherine and St Andrew.

Baugh said many people were experiencing symptoms of runny nose, stuffiness, chest tightness, difficulty breathing, and coughing.

He said that the heavy pall of smoke had also affected motorists, noting that it was likely to contain toxic gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, dioxins from plastics, and other noxious emissions known to affect breathing.

Baugh further expressed the view that with each passing day the risks increased to workers at the fill and to residents, of being exposed to toxic vapours, smoke inhalation and fires.

He called on the ministers of local government and health to collaborate and act with dispatch to eradicate this risk immediately and to employ well-known methods of effective prevention and containment.