Research has found a 1 per cent increase in the risk of birth defects to babies born near a landfill site.
This risk "increases to 7 per cent for those near a hazardous waste site," the report - to be published in the British Medical Journaltomorrow - claims.
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The report's authors have not been able to establish a cause for the potential health risk. It says a "further understanding of the potential toxicity of landfill emissions and possible exposure pathways is needed in order to help interpret the... findings."
Last week, the Health Research Board (HRB) announced it is to commission a study into the dangers associated with landfill sites and incinerators.
The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, said the results would be published early next year.
Speaking last week Mr Dempsey said: "The information currently available to me is that modern municipal waste landfills and incinerators, employing modern technologies and operating in compliance with strict environmental standards, do not present a significant risk to public health or the environment."
Mr Pat O’Brien, spokesperson for the No Incineration Alliance, said the group will study the report when it is released tomorrow. "There is no such thing as a safe percentage" when it comes to toxic levels, Mr O’Brien said.
Plans to build an incinerator in Carranstown, four miles from Drogheda, have been given the go ahead by the local County Council.
Fine Gael TD Mr John Bruton said the health effects of incineration had not been adequately researched, particularly in regard to the impact of dioxins.
"Such research should have been undertaken by the Health Research Board before any decision on any incinerator anywhere in Ireland was taken."