COST OF PROFIT - A Runcorn escapee

By Maureen Donnelly

"The Mersey basin, from Ellesmere Port and Runcorn, stretching out to Widnes and Warrington, is one of the most highly-concentrated sites of chemical production in Western Europe. Chemical spills and leaks of toxic substances are a regular occurrence in the area. This is a place where corporate illegalities are committed with alarming regularity and with largely unknown, but potentially deadly effects. The Environment Agency's list of the worst environmental offenders was topped by ICI Runcorn in 1999. ICI were convicted 12 times in 1997 and 1998 for offences at the Runcorn plant."
'The Criminals that won't get caught on CCTV'
People Not Profit http://www.peoplenotprofit.co.uk/archive/archive_iss4_criminal.htm

If you stand on the top of the hill on warm evening nights a haze rests in their air - our own northern lights. A manifestation of beautiful colours on the industrial horizon, while below the hill lies the etchings of what was once a sand stone quarry. Yet this mirage has ominous undertones. The air and the land are saturated with toxic poisons. Runcorn is commonly known for its pollution, but its familiarity prevents any further enquiry, particularly to the people who live in there.

Runcorn's population exploded in the late sixties and early seventies with the overflow from the two main North West cities - Liverpool and Manchester. New town developments and expanding industrialisation promised employment and the convenience of modern living within an idyllic setting of tangential rural living; a pride still held by the local authority:

'But ICI demonstrated that it had faith in the town when they built the vast office and laboratory complex at The Heath.'

'Runcorn in the Twentieth Century'
Halton Borough Council Website
http://www.halton.gov.uk/History/runtwentieth.asp

We sporadically hear of chemical companies being fined ten of thousands of pounds for the unlawful toxic 'vomit' they discharge into the environment - ICI being but one of many culprits in the area. However, this is a slap on the wrist compared to the millions made in profit. This has been happening for thirty years or more, a generation. What of the people who live in this poisonous terrain, what of the generations who have been born and lived there? They are dying. The apathy from the chemical companies is reflected throughout the town. These companies employ the people and because they put food on our tables we tolerate and excuse it. Yet it is this food, the water we drink, and the very ground our homes stand on that is killing us.

It is rare, on a national scale, for younger generations to show signs of extreme decrepitude, but in Runcorn it is commonplace. There are a number of endocrine conditions, some are auto-immune based whilst others are of a malignant nature. Life expectancy is reduced. Research has shown time and again that dioxins and PCB disrupt the hormonal system, and in Runcorn a generation's DNA has been corrupted. Toxic waste produced in the town does not just stay within its boundaries, but some travels freely through the air and water to surrounding towns and cities.

'An endocrine disrupter is an exogenous substance or mixture that alters function(s) of the endocrine system and consequently causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, or (sub)populations'.
'Community strategy for endocrine disrupters'
Europa (Environment) (http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/endocrine/definitions/endodis_en.htm)

Each time I return home to my parents on alternate weekends, I hear from friends and family of someone else who has developed a condition, someone else who has died of cancer. It is never-ending. My family and I have suffered the same fate, living with conditions generously bestowed by our chemical sovereign. The intrinsic nature of our bodies is no longer reciprocal to well-being, but dependent on the drugs manufactured to sustain our longevity. In this way we rely upon treatment from the very companies that poison us.

From personal experience, I realise that it is not merely a matter of debating what we already know, but to initiate some affirmative action to resolve this problem for future generations. When we read many articles, they are forgotten as soon as we put down the magazine. But this is something that will not go away, as the damage already done is getting worse, and is perpetuated by ignorance and a focus on short-term financial concerns. Can you put a price on life?