Burning Waste Poisons People: For this Saugus native, fighting for her community runs in the family.

• Date: 22 June 2020
• Author: Synoracki, Olivia
• Published date: 22 June 2020
• Author: Synoracki, Olivia

JACKIE MERCURIO HAS LIVED IN THESHADOWS OF A TOXIC WASTE INCINERATOR HER ENTIRE LIFE. From the backyard of her childhood home in Saugus, Massachusetts, you can see the facility's smokestack rising above the trees, spewing smog, pollution, and ash over the quiet residential neighborhood.

The incinerator weighs heavily on Jackie. As a kid, she recalls, "ash and soot showered down on homes every day--coating swimming pools, rooftops, and sidings in a blanket of toxicity. You could literally feel molecules of pollution around you."

But no memories are as heart-wrenching as the many family and friends who have become ill since the facility opened 45 years ago. Almost every member of Jackie's extended family, most of whom lived on her same street, has faced myriad cancer diagnoses--with no trace of family history. "If you knock on any door in this neighborhood, there's at least one household member who has struggled with cancer," she says.

What's more, allergies are more severe, and asthma has become increasingly common. Jackie herself suffers from asthma and has a learning disability. While the area's elevated cancer rates and other health issues cannot be linked definitively to the incinerator, Jackie believes they are all consequences of growing up breathing in the facility's toxic fumes.

Sadly, Jackie's neighborhood is not unique. The Saugus facility, owned by Wheelabrator, is one of 16 waste incinerators in New England. Located primarily...