Latest news with #IanMudway
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
'Criminal' lack of cash leaves nine in 10 high-risk toxic sites unchecked
Thousands of sites potentially contaminated with toxic chemicals have never been checked by councils, a BBC investigation has found. Nine out of 10 "high-risk" areas have not been tested by councils responding to a BBC Freedom of Information request, and scientists fear they could pose a health risk. The sites are thought to contain substances such as lead or arsenic. The BBC Shared Data Unit found of 13,093 potentially toxic sites that councils have identified as high risk, only 1,465 have been inspected. The UK government has said that local unitary authorities have a statutory duty to inspect potentially contaminated sites but councils claim they do not have the money to do it. The research comes after the release of new Netflix drama Toxic Town which tells the story of families fighting for justice following one of the UK's biggest environmental scandals. The BBC's findings raise fresh questions about what exactly has been left beneath our feet from the UK's heavy industrial past. "What we don't do in this country is do a full economic evaluation on the cost of things, including health and that feels almost criminal," said Dr Ian Mudway, a leading expert on the effect of pollution on human health. What we learnt in the Toxic Waste Scandal podcast How Hollywood star Sheen helped uncover a dark secret The Toxic Waste Scandal: What went on? "I'm not even certain we've achieved the point of scratching the surface." Contaminated land is a site that might have been polluted from its previous use - it could have been a factory, power station, a railway line, landfill site, petrol station or dry cleaners. If you live in a property constructed after 2000, any contamination issues should be covered by updated planning laws. But if you live in a property built before 2000, the rules are less clear. The Environmental Protection Act requires councils to list all potential contaminated sites, and inspect the high-risk ones to make sure people and property are not at risk. But after contacting all 122 unitary authorities in Wales, Scotland and England about their contaminated land, 73 responded to the BBC's Shared Data Unit Freedom of Information request which revealed there were 430,000 potential sites identified in the early 2000s. Of those, 13,093 were considered to be potentially high-risk, which experts said should have then been subject to physical testing. Yet, more than 11,000 of them remain unchecked to this day. Half of Wales' 22 councils told the BBC they could not or would not give us figures - but those that did, identified 698 high-risk sites of which 586 have not been inspected. Where Robin Morris lives is home to more than 400 of Wales' 1,300 abandoned metal mines and its three rivers, the Ystwyth, Rheidol and the Clarach, are some of the most heavily-polluted in the UK. The Cwmystwyth mines in north Ceredigion date back to the Bronze Age and were abandoned in 1950, but spoils including a high level of zinc, cadmium and lead scatter the landscape and have polluted the River Ystwyth below. Many Cwmystwyth locals, like Robin, have filtration systems installed if they receive their water from the hills where the old mines were. "We installed an advance filtration system and were assured it would take absolutely everything," he said. The BBC took a soil sample from Robin's garden on the banks of the Ystwyth and it revealed a very high reading of lead - well above the recommended safe level for gardening. "It causes alarm bells to ring," Robin told BBC Wales Investigates. "In light of the figures from your soil sample, we should have stopped growing vegetables long ago." It's just one sample, but other things that have happened in the past now seem to make more sense. "We had ducks and chickens, a couple of the ducks went lame and we did consult the vet, he thought it was because of lead contamination," added Robin. Ceredigion council said it was liaising with Wales' environmental body National Resources Wales to continually assess the health impact from the area's mining legacy. Dr Mudway insists there was "no safe level" of lead and told the BBC it could impact children's development as well as kidney and cardiovascular disease in adults. "Nothing is more of a forever chemical than lead," added the environmental toxicologist at Imperial College London. "This is a hazard that has not gone away and is still a clear and present danger to the population. "It's one of the few chemical entities for which we can calculate a global burden of disease - between half a million to just under a million premature deaths per year because of the release of lead into our environment. "When you talk about the cost of ensuring that land is safe... that costs money up front. "The costs of potential health effects, especially if they contribute to chronic diseases which people live with for 10 or 20 years, or the costs of remediating land, after when you realise that it's a high-level, dwarf the profits made at the other end of that cycle. That feels almost criminal. "The health cost is hardly considered at all." When Manon Chiswell was a toddler she suddenly stopped talking - doctors advised her family she was showing lots of autistic traits. "I do have memories of being very closely monitored in Meithrin [nursery]... I always had an adult with me," said Manon, now 20. "I couldn't speak... they had to use a traffic light system, and yes or no cards to redirect me and help me communicate." But a blood test later found high levels of lead in Manon's blood. She was not autistic, she had been poisoned. Her father, Huw Chiswell, believed Manon was most likely poisoned at their home in Cardiff, which was near an old industrial site. "She used to eat earth [as a toddler] in the garden," he said. "There were railway sidings not far from where we lived at the time, so it's difficult to draw any other conclusions really, because once she'd stopped the eating, she got better." But it is not just about lead - a government report suggests that sites posing the greatest health risks were also contaminated by chemicals such as arsenic, nickel, chromium, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in soil or water. Campaigners want a new law forcing councils to keep a public register of all potential contaminated sites. It is led by the parents of a seven-year-old boy who died from poisonous gas after the River Thames flooded their home in 2014, and they believe the fumes came from a nearby landfill. Zane's law - named after Zane Gbangbola - also calls for measures such as more money for councils to identify and test possible sites. "You have to know that it exists before you can protect yourself," said Zane's dad Kye Gbangbola, who was left paralysed after the gas poisoning. "Until we have Zane's Law people will remain unprotected." When tighter regulations on dealing with potentially contaminated land became law 25 years ago, the minister that pushed them through wanted just that. Now John Selwyn Gummer feels UK government funding cuts has meant far fewer inspections. "There is no way in which local authorities can do this job without having the resources," said Lord Deben. "Successive governments have under-provided for the work that we need to do." Several councils have told the BBC that funding is the reason they had stopped checking possible contaminated land. Phil Hartley was one of hundreds of officers across the UK that used to check potential sites and Newcastle's former council contamination officer. He said the central government grant removal had led to a "collapse" in checks. "Since the money dried up very, very few councils proactively go out looking for contaminated land sites because the council doesn't want to take the risk of finding them," said Mr Hartley. "There's a possibility that some people's health is being threatened, which is not great." The UK government said local authorities had a statutory duty to inspect potentially contaminated sites, require remediation and maintain a public register of remediated land. "Any risk to public health from contaminated land is a serious matter," a spokesperson from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said. They also asked the Environment Agency to produce a new state of contaminated land report to provide the "best possible baseline of data to measure future policies related to contaminated land against". The bodies that represent councils in Wales and England both said a lack of cash meant they could not fulfil their duty. The Welsh Local Government Association said while Wales' 22 councils took their responsibility to check sites "seriously", progress was "increasingly constrained by a lack of dedicated funding and specialist resources". England's Local Government Association said: "Without adequate funding, councils will continue to struggle to provide crucial services - with devastating consequences for those who rely on them." You can watch Britain's Toxic Secret on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on Thursday 13 March at 20:30 GMT Metal mines pollution raises health worries Zane's Law on landfill becomes Green Party policy More than 800 homes to built on contaminated land
BBC News
13-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Toxic town impact as most high-risk contaminated sites unchecked
Thousands of sites potentially contaminated with toxic chemicals have never been checked by councils, a BBC investigation has found. Nine out of 10 "high-risk" areas have not been tested by councils responding to a BBC Freedom of Information request, and scientists fear they could pose a health sites are thought to contain substances such as lead or BBC Shared Data Unit found of 13,093 potentially toxic sites that councils have identified as high risk, only 1,465 have been UK government has said that local unitary authorities have a statutory duty to inspect potentially contaminated sites but councils claim they do not have the money to do it. The research comes after the release of new Netflix drama Toxic Town which tells the story of families fighting for justice following one of the UK's biggest environmental BBC's findings raise fresh questions about what exactly has been left beneath our feet from the UK's heavy industrial past."What we don't do in this country is do a full economic evaluation on the cost of things, including health and that feels almost criminal," said Dr Ian Mudway, a leading expert on the effect of pollution on human health. "I'm not even certain we've achieved the point of scratching the surface."Contaminated land is a site that might have been polluted from its previous use - it could have been a factory, power station, a railway line, landfill site, petrol station or dry you live in a property constructed after 2000, any contamination issues should be covered by updated planning laws. How much land is contaminated in the UK? But if you live in a property built before 2000, the rules are less Environmental Protection Act requires councils to list all potential contaminated sites, and inspect the high-risk ones to make sure people and property are not at after contacting all 122 unitary authorities in Wales, Scotland and England about their contaminated land, 73 responded to the BBC's Shared Data Unit Freedom of Information request which revealed there were 430,000 potential sites identified in the early those, 13,093 were considered to be potentially high-risk, which experts said should have then been subject to physical testing. Yet, more than 11,000 of them remain unchecked to this of Wales' 22 councils told the BBC they could not or would not give us figures - but those that did, identified 698 high-risk sites of which 586 have not been inspected. Where Robin Morris lives is home to more than 400 of Wales' 1,300 abandoned metal mines and its three rivers, the Ystwyth, Rheidol and the Clarach, are some of the most heavily-polluted in the Cwmystwyth mines in north Ceredigion date back to the Bronze Age and were abandoned in 1950, but spoils including a high level of zinc, cadmium and lead scatter the landscape and have polluted the River Ystwyth Cwmystwyth locals, like Robin, have filtration systems installed if they receive their water from the hills where the old mines were."We installed an advance filtration system and were assured it would take absolutely everything," he said. 'Alarm bells' The BBC took a soil sample from Robin's garden on the banks of the Ystwyth and it revealed a very high reading of lead - well above the recommended safe level for gardening."It causes alarm bells to ring," Robin told BBC Wales Investigates."In light of the figures from your soil sample, we should have stopped growing vegetables long ago."It's just one sample, but other things that have happened in the past now seem to make more sense. "We had ducks and chickens, a couple of the ducks went lame and we did consult the vet, he thought it was because of lead contamination," added council said it was liaising with Wales' environmental body National Resources Wales to continually assess the health impact from the area's mining Mudway insists there was "no safe level" of lead and told the BBC it could impact children's development as well as kidney and cardiovascular disease in adults. "Nothing is more of a forever chemical than lead," added the environmental toxicologist at Imperial College London."This is a hazard that has not gone away and is still a clear and present danger to the population. "It's one of the few chemical entities for which we can calculate a global burden of disease - between half a million to just under a million premature deaths per year because of the release of lead into our environment."When you talk about the cost of ensuring that land is safe... that costs money up front."The costs of potential health effects, especially if they contribute to chronic diseases which people live with for 10 or 20 years, or the costs of remediating land, after when you realise that it's a high-level, dwarf the profits made at the other end of that cycle. That feels almost criminal. "The health cost is hardly considered at all." When Manon Chiswell was a toddler she suddenly stopped talking - doctors advised her family she was showing lots of autistic traits."I do have memories of being very closely monitored in Meithrin [nursery]... I always had an adult with me," said Manon, now 20. "I couldn't speak... they had to use a traffic light system, and yes or no cards to redirect me and help me communicate."But a blood test later found high levels of lead in Manon's was not autistic, she had been father, Huw Chiswell, believed Manon was most likely poisoned at their home in Cardiff, which was near an old industrial site. "She used to eat earth [as a toddler] in the garden," he said. "There were railway sidings not far from where we lived at the time, so it's difficult to draw any other conclusions really, because once she'd stopped the eating, she got better."But it is not just about lead - a government report suggests that sites posing the greatest health risks were also contaminated by chemicals such as arsenic, nickel, chromium, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) found in soil or water. Campaigners want a new law forcing councils to keep a public register of all potential contaminated is led by the parents of a seven-year-old boy who died from poisonous gas after the River Thames flooded their home in 2014, and they believe the fumes came from a nearby law - named after Zane Gbangbola - also calls for measures such as more money for councils to identify and test possible sites."You have to know that it exists before you can protect yourself," said Zane's dad Kye Gbangbola, who was left paralysed after the gas poisoning."Until we have Zane's Law people will remain unprotected." When tighter regulations on dealing with potentially contaminated land became law 25 years ago, the minister that pushed them through wanted just John Selwyn Gummer feels UK government funding cuts has meant far fewer inspections. "There is no way in which local authorities can do this job without having the resources," said Lord Deben."Successive governments have under-provided for the work that we need to do." 'There's a possibility some people's health is being threatened' Several councils have told the BBC that funding is the reason they had stopped checking possible contaminated Hartley was one of hundreds of officers across the UK that used to check potential sites and Newcastle's former council contamination said the central government grant removal had led to a "collapse" in checks."Since the money dried up very, very few councils proactively go out looking for contaminated land sites because the council doesn't want to take the risk of finding them," said Mr Hartley."There's a possibility that some people's health is being threatened, which is not great." The UK government said local authorities had a statutory duty to inspect potentially contaminated sites, require remediation and maintain a public register of remediated land. "Any risk to public health from contaminated land is a serious matter," a spokesperson from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also asked the Environment Agency to produce a new state of contaminated land report to provide the "best possible baseline of data to measure future policies related to contaminated land against".The bodies that represent councils in Wales and England both said a lack of cash meant they could not fulfil their Welsh Local Government Association said while Wales' 22 councils took their responsibility to check sites "seriously", progress was "increasingly constrained by a lack of dedicated funding and specialist resources".England's Local Government Association said: "Without adequate funding, councils will continue to struggle to provide crucial services - with devastating consequences for those who rely on them." You can watch Britain's Toxic Secret on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on Thursday 13 March at 20:30 GMT
The Guardian
14-02-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
Brake pad dust can be more toxic than exhaust emissions, study says
Microscopic particles emitted from brake pads can be more toxic than those emitted in diesel vehicle exhaust, a study has found. This research shows that even with a move to electric vehicles, pollution from cars may not be able to be eradicated. The researchers found that a higher concentration of copper in some commonly used brake pads was associated with increased harmful effects on sensitive cells from people's lungs, as a result of particles being breathed in. Exposure to pollution generated by cars, vans and lorries has been previously been linked to an increased risk of lung and heart disease. While past attention has mainly concentrated on exhaust emissions, particles are also released into the air from tyre, road and brake pad wear. These emissions are largely unregulated by legislation and the study found that these 'non-exhaust' pollution sources are now responsible for the majority of vehicle particulate matter emissions in the UK and parts of Europe, with brake dust the main contributor among them. Dr James Parkin, from the University of Southampton and lead author of the study published in the journal Particle and Fibre Toxicology, said: 'People generally associate pollution from cars as being from exhaust pipes and think of electric vehicles as having zero emissions. However, electric vehicles still produce particulate matter due to friction and wear of the road, tyres, and brakes. 'We wanted to understand how different types of chemical composition of pads affect the toxicity of the particles emitted and what this might mean for the health of individuals.' The scientists examined the effects on lung health of particulate matter from four different types of brake pad with differing chemical compositions; low metallic, semi-metallic, non-asbestos organic and hybrid-ceramic. Results showed that of the four types of brake pads, non-asbestos organic pads were the most potent at inducing inflammation and other markers of toxicity, and were found to be more toxic to human lung cells than diesel exhaust particles. Ceramic pads were the second most toxic. Dr Ian Mudway, senior lecturer at the school of public health at Imperial College London, said that while the research appeared sound it was premature to conclude that emissions from brake pad wear were worse than diesel exhaust. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion He said: 'Too many variables remain uncontrolled: brake disc types [a highly varied category], diesel exhaust particle composition, and chosen endpoints, among others. While this paper focuses on brakes, tyre wear and road dust resuspension should also be considered. This has significant policy implications, as it suggests that policies solely targeting exhaust emissions will not fully mitigate the risks of traffic-related pollutants.' The project supervisor Prof Matthew Loxham said this was 'a fair comment' but said the brake wear particles were generated on a test rig according to a standard braking cycle, different types and speed of braking, which is used for brake testing, 'therefore one would expect the particles to be representative of general real world brake wear particles'. 'Although there may well be differences to the particles from each of these sources caused by changes in braking or engine parameters, I think it would be fair to hypothesise that these differences would be rather less than the differences due to the individual sources,' he said.
