Millennium Dome prompts eco-rage

Environmental campaigners have threatened to take action over the proposed use of a "toxic" material in the roof of the Millennium Dome. Campaigners claim the roof is to be coated in PVC, a material which gives off highly poisonous dioxins during manufacture and disposal.

Lord Melchett, executive director of Greenpeace, has written to Peter Mandelson, the minister in charge of the scheme, warning him that "very, very determined efforts will be made to stop its construction", and describing PVC as "one of the most environmentally damaging building materials it is possible to find".

The New Millennium Experience Company Limited, the government firm building the dome, said in a statement: "We have consistently asked Greenpeace to recommend a viable alternative to the fabric chosen to cover the dome, but they have been unable to do so".