Experts demand new Camelford poison water probe
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Friday, November 02, 2012
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Cornish Guardian
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TWO EXPERTS on the 1988 Camelford water poisoning incident have demanded an independent inquiry into its health repercussions, claiming the Government has failed to investigate.
Doug Cross and Peter Smith say the Department of Health (DoH) refused to take the steps needed to protect the public during and after a major chemical pollution incident.
Both have resigned in protest from the Lowermoor Sub-Group Committee on Toxicity, which was set up in 2001 by then-Environment Minister Michael Meacher.
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The disaster happened when 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate were dumped into the wrong tank at the Lowermoor water treatment works, near Camelford, in July 1988. It turned the water supply to 20,000 people in North Cornwall highly acidic, with tap water containing massive levels of aluminium.
Mr Cross's wife Carole died in 2004 aged 59 from a unique neurological disease distantly related to Alzheimer's.
Since her death Mr Cross has been in contact with five families who have lost a loved one from what they believe to have been illness related to the Lowermoor poisoning.
He told the Cornish Guardian: "In a couple of cases, there have even been suicides, as the persons concerned were aware that they appeared to be going down the same pathway as my wife, and decided to end their lives before things became insufferable."...
