Families blame toxic dumps for deformities
The Independent (London, England);By Robert Verkaik, Legal Affairs
Correspondent
26 April 2004
The families of two dozen children born fingerless or with webbed hands are
celebrating a legal victory in their quest to prove that the deformities
are linked to toxic waste dumps left over from Northamptonshire's once thriving
steel industry.
A High Court judge has ordered Corby Borough Council to disclose documents
to the families that their lawyers believe will help prove that harmful chemicals
escaped during the local authority's alleged mismanagement of the sites.
The case could lead to a multimillion-pound compensation payout for 24 Corby
children born over a seven year-period to 1999 during the council's chemical
clean-up operation. Many of the children face years of painful restorative
surgery as doctors remove some of their toes so they can graft them on to
their hands to act as fingers.
Figures suggest the rate of upper-limb abnormality in Corby is 15 times higher
than the national average.
Joy Shatford, 30, the mother in one of the eight lead cases in the legal
action, recalled the air full of pungent fumes when council engineers began
re-opening some of the estimated eight to 16 toxic pits scattered around
Corby.
Dozens of lorries were used to transport the poisonous waste - mostly lead
and zinc by-products from the steel-making industry - to two sealed containers
north-east of the town.
"You could taste it in the air; it was sour, gassy and acidic. Then it was
common knowledge that this was because they were digging up the pits," she
said.
A few months later, Ms Shatford, 30, a secretary at a Corby accountants,
gave birth to her first son, Daniel, now seven.
"The nurses just wrapped him up and gave him to me. They didn't say anything
about his hand."
It was only when Ms Shatford unravelled the tiny bundle of blankets that
she discovered her son had been born with no fingers on his left hand.
"I asked them, 'What's the matter with his hand?' It was such a shock. I
just felt numb. I was left thinking that I must have done something wrong
during my pregnancy. But I didn't smoke or drink; I didn't even take an aspirin.
It took me a long time to come to terms with what happened."
Years later, Ms Shatford discovered she was far from alone. Other mothers
who lived near the toxic sites had also given birth to children with missing
fingers or webbed hands.
One of them was Susan MacIntyre, 35, whose son, Conor, now nine, was also
born without any fingers on his left hand.
Ms McIntyre said: "It is difficult for him because other children have started
calling him names. I used to tell him to be proud of his hand and not to
hide it from people. At first, he didn't seem to mind but recently, because
of the teasing, he leaves it in his pocket or covers it with his sleeve."
The two toes taken from his foot to act as fingers have affected Conor's
balance. "He can fall over quite easily but the doctors say that it will
be all worth it in the long-run," Ms McIntyre said. Bone from other parts
of Conor's body has been used to rebuild his foot.
Ms MacIntyre says any compensation will pay for adaptations to their home
that will help Conor get about the house and lead a normal life.
The Legal Services Commission has awarded the families' lawyers £20,000
in legal aid to investigate the claim.
Des Collins, the solicitor running the case, said he had medical evidence
that proves the children's deformities are linked to the toxic waste dumps
left by the former steel industry.
Corby became an important steel-making centre in the 1930s after the discovery
of rich iron ore deposits. Many of the present inhabitants are related to
Scottish steelworkers who moved to the town looking for employment.
Mr Collins said: "We have now got medical reports that rule out alternative
explanations for what caused the upper limb deformities in these children."
Mr Collins has found statistical evidence that undermines a Northamptonshire
Health Authority report four years ago which rejected the idea that the births
amounted to a cluster of "congenital limb reduction defects" in and around
Corby.
Since the report was published, the families' lawyers have found other cases
and exposed what they believe are serious flaws in the initial report. Mr
Collins claims the health authority ignored the fact that between 1990 and
1993 there were no cases at all but by the following year there were four
cases - a pattern that was repeated in 1996 and 1997.
Significantly, a district auditor's report, seen by The Independent, concludes
that none of the council engineers involved in moving the toxic waste had
professional experience in toxic-waste disposal.
The district auditor, Stephen Warren, said in his report: "The reclamation
programme at Corby was unique in the size and scale of works proposed. While
the council established a reclamation group within the engineering department,
the group was not properly staffed." It was also under pressure from the
council and the Department of Environment to get on with the programme within
the planned financial years. "The failure to specify reclamation works to
be done accurately was widespread," he said.
In 1997, police investigated allegations of corruption in the awarding of
contracts during the reclamation programme. These inquiries were dropped
when the Crown Prosecution Service advised that there was insufficient evidence
to bring a criminal prosecution.
Last week, a High Court judge in the separate civil action ordered the council
to disclose documents to the families' lawyers in connection with the management
of the toxic pits. However, potentially vital reports showing the levels
of chemicals at the sites around Corby during the decontamination operation
were destroyed in a fire at Northampton County Council in 1995.
Nevertheless, Mr Collins expects the disclosure order to force the council
to reveal other documents not previously known to the claimants.
For Daniel Shatford and Conor MacIntyre, it could be an important legal breakthrough
in the fight for compensation to help them and similarly affected children
lead normal lives.
A spokesman for Corby Borough Council said: "The legal department is studying
the claims and a decision will be taken shortly." Asked whether the council
accepted liability for the children's deformities the spokesman said: "We
can't make any comment on that."