CAMPAIGNERS have called for urgent action after five landfill sites across East Lancashire were given the green light to become specialist hazardous waste sites.

The landfills were among more than 200 named across England and Wales as the Government moved to clarify exactly where toxic materials will be dumped.

A spokesman for the Environment Agency said that hazardous materials were often mixed with household rubbish and dumped in general landfills. New European rules mean this practice must end by 2004.

Sites which have been given permission to take toxic materials are Thorny Height Quarry, Darwen; Coplow Quarry at the Castle Cement works in Clitheroe; Church Works, Accrington; and Deerplay Landfill and Hapton Works, Burnley.

Hazardous material can include clinical and medical waste and asbestos.

Mike Childs, senior waste campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: "A number of recent studies have shown that toxic landfill sites are a real health risk.

"The Government must take urgent action to reduce the amount of toxic waste going to landfill by increasing the landfill tax and setting a higher rate for hazardous waste." The Environment Agency spokesman said in future sites must be classified into one of three categories -- hazardous, non-hazardous or inert. No sites which take only non-hazardous waste will take toxic matter in the future, she added.

She said: "Operators must demonstrate that they and their staff are technically competent to manage the site and have made adequate financial provisions to cover maintenance and after-care requirements.

"Bio-degradable waste will be progressively diverted away from landfills. and some hazardous wastes, including liquids, will be prohibited."

Peter Parker, clinker manager at Castle Cement's Ribblesdale works at Clitheroe, said: "We accept only waste which we generate ourselves. And we only take one type of waste which is classified as hazardous -- kiln dust. This is classified as such because it is an irritant. This dust first goes through a particular process to maintain quality."

A study published by the Lancet medical journal in January said the risk of having a baby with an abnormality such as Down's syndrome increased by 40 per cent for women who lived within two miles of a toxic landfill site.

But some experts criticised the study because they said it was unclear from the evidence if children had Down's because the mother lived near a toxic site or whether some other factor was to blame.