Camelford mass poisoning
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| Date | July 1988 |
|---|---|
| Location | Camelford, Cornwall, England |
| Description | In 1988, twenty thousand people in Cornwall were poisoned by drinking water containing 600 mg/L aluminium over several weeks. The committee charged with investigating the disaster were not considering any ill effects relating to aluminium. |
The Camelford mass poisoning involved the accidental contamination of the drinking water supply to the town of Camelford, Cornwall, in July 1988. Twenty tonnes of aluminium sulphate was inadvertently added to the water supply, raising the concentration to 3,000 times the admissible level.
Cover-up
Cover up? Yes.
Christopher Exley, Britain's foremost expert on aluminum poisoning, wrote "I immediately smelt the proverbial rat as the experts appointed to the Department of Health, Committee on Toxicology (DH COT) to review Camelford had absolutely no relevant (or even irrelevant) expertise in aluminium...I was then asked to give evidence to the expert panel in person and answer questions on my report. Upon doing so the committee chair Professor Frank Woods thanked me personally and asked if I would be prepared to help the committee in drafting the section of their report that covered the environmental toxicology of aluminium. I never heard from Frank Woods again in respect of this request and when eventually their draft report was published in 2005 it did not contain any of the information I had provided as written or oral evidence. It was clear from the draft report that another cover up was developing....Twenty thousand people had been poisoned by drinking water containing 600 mg/L aluminium over several weeks and the committee charged with investigating the disaster were not considering any ill effects relating to aluminium."[1]
