Mr Kohlis said residents had heard little from the authorities and the company, and he was aghast to hear suggestions consequences of acrolein emissions were no different from someone smoking in the same room - which he noted was banned everywhere except private homes. A resident of the area for 15 years, he was outraged by the "possibility" his children were being slowly poisoned.
"We are right in the thick of it. Our house is within the highest off-site concentration," he said. "It definitely carries to us. The mill said the emissions don't go over the fence but there is no force field around it.
"Who knows what has been coming over?
"People are getting sick. My mother got sick."
He said she smelt a pungent smell while walking past the site and became "very ill", and others had complained of illness to which the mill had responded, "It's all in your mind."
He said Pan Pac and the authorities had not been particularly forthcoming, with responses motivated mainly by contact from media.
"You need to be able to guarantee 100 per cent that my kids won't be affected. You can't sneakily start trialling it. I'd like to see Pan Pac to be transparent with us and I don't want to see that thing work until they can guarantee it's safe, and I don't think that's too much to ask."
Pan Pac managing director Doug Ducker last week disputed the claims, saying the company was focusing on safety, and had the track record to prove it.
"These claims aren't correct at all," he said. "We have always consulted with residents when there is something to communicate."
