When she moved to the countryside two years ago, Natalie Dugdale thought it would be the perfect spot to raise her family. Close to a lagoon in north Wales, she thought she could walk her baby, toddler and dogs on public footpaths. But when she watched Michael Sheen's BBC documentary revealing the lagoon's history as a dumping ground of cancer-causing chemicals known as PCBs, Natalie was shocked.
Now she is part of a group of people who are worried they may have been poisoned by years of exposure to toxic waste, and are campaigning for voluntary blood testing across Wales. But Wales' public health body has said it does not recommend blood testing for PCBs, saying it would cause more concern. Public Health Wales (PHW) said the tests did not provide "a reliable means of assessing an individual's exposure to contamination or the potential health impact".
Members of a newly formed campaign group for those living alongside some of the sites concerned have told BBC Wales they had been left "frightened and upset" and said testing would help provide "peace of mind". Natalie could not believe her local lake in Llwyneinion, just outside Wrexham, had actually once been a dumping ground for potentially dangerous chemicals and wants to see blood testing introduced. "I was really upset because having young children, what are they being exposed to?," said Natalie, 33.
Llwyneinion lagoon was recently branded "a shame on Britain", following the documentary into historical dumping of PCBs by US chemical giant Monsanto, which had factories in Wrexham and Newport. Michael Phillips played at the lagoon as a child and decades later developed a rare cancer in his shoulder. He said many of his other friends had died because of similarly rare cancers, which he now suspects were linked, although no proven link has been established.
"I would say every person that played in the pool that was close to me, apart from one friend who had an operation to get rid of it, is dead," said Michael, 63. Sheen's Buried programme team found elevated levels in soil samples taken in an area open to the public beyond the fenced-off lagoon, as well as at 13 other suspected dumpsites for the firm's toxic waste across the country. Michael Phillips was also found to have "very high" levels of PCBs in his blood, after private testing commissioned for the documentary.
The banned chemicals were once widely used and revered for being non-flammable and hard to break down – but are seen today as the first "forever chemicals" - which are building up in the environment, threatening wildlife and human health. What is the truth lying beneath our feet? Michael Sheen uncovers claims of conspiracy, complicity and denial over alleged toxic 'forever chemical' contamination in south Wales.
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