Environmental lobby group Residents Against Dioxins (RAD) claims fumes from the proposed crematorium at Moss Vale could increase the incidence of cancer and harm expectant mothers and their babies.
Liverpool Presbyterian Cemetery Trust has been chosen as the preferred tenderer to build the crematorium in partnership with Wingecarribee Shire Council.
Plans for the crematorium and 80-seat chapel are currently on display at council.
In a submission to council, RAD spokesman Peter Lach-Newinsky said a UK study of babies and mothers living around crematoria and waste incinerators found increased statistical risk of spina bifida and congenital heart
defects.
Emissions from the crematorium would add to the toxic fumes emitted by Blue Circle Southern Cement at Berrima each year, he said.
In particular, burning dental amalgams in bodies released mercury into the atmosphere, he said.
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