Pollution—an enduring tragedy

Garry Booth — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:47:32 +0000

The High Court has decided that Corby Borough Council was negligent in its clean-up of a former steel works in the town, which may have led to birth defects in 16 children. Deformities to hands and feet were the result of mothers being exposed to a ‘soup of toxic materials’ between 1985 and 1999, the court was told.

The council said it was ‘disappointed’ at the ruling, maintaining that there had been no link between the birth defects and the reclamation work. Corby says it will appeal against the High Court ruling and start mediation with the families and claimants involved in the case (BBC news, 19 August).

Simon Johnson, director at Lloyd’s broker Aon, said that the Corby litigation could stimulate more legal action particularly affecting councils that have invested in regeneration and built on brownfield sites. “Most worrying, defence and other costs could run into millions of pounds and may not be insured,” he commented.

In recent years industrial pollution issues have been dominated by global climate change or other environmental concerns. But as the Corby case shows, pollution incidents can end in human tragedy. The misery is often prolonged as legal disputes take years to unwind.

In fact this year is the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster. Poison gas leaked from the pesticide factory operated by Union Carbide killing thousands and injuring many more. In 1989, Union Carbide agreed to pay $470m in compensation.

But like pollutants, the repercussions cannot be easily washed away: in Bhopal 100,000 people say they are chronically ill as a result of the accident. And this month an Indian court reissued its arrest warrant for Warren Anderson (BBC news, 31 July), who was the head of Union Carbide when the accident happened.

The Lloyd's Risk Blog » Pollution

Pollution—an enduring tragedy