Freeclaim Solicitors News
Freeclaim Solicitor Dismisses Recent Report On The Radiation Cases at Manchester University
Fri 16th Oct 09 - 10:46
Freeclaim Solicitors are continuing to work on a number of high profile contamination cases linked to radioactive material in the Rutherford Building at Manchester University, despite a recent report concluding that the deaths were coincidental and not linked to radioactive material.
The Rutherford building was home to Ernest Rutherford, the father of modern nuclear physics, where he conducted various experiments at the turn of the century, leaving behind contamination which may have affected the health of those who later moved into the offices within the very laboratories where the experiments were carried out.
The report by Professor David Coggon ruled out the possibility that radioactive contamination was to blame for a cluster of cancer cases among former staff.
Freeclaim solicitor Liz Graham who is acting on behalf of some of the families, has dismissed the findings and commented, "Because no record was kept of the radiation measurements before 1999, he assumes they must have been at a safe level. That is not a safe assumption." She has also written to the coroner to say that the report is deeply flawed.
The coroner has already intervened when earlier this year it was announced that yet another academic was dying of pancreatic cancer. The coroner took the quite extraordinary step and contacted his relations whilst he was still alive to ensure no burial took place until they had examined the body.
Professor David Coggon did state that the rate of early cancer deaths in the building was unusually high, but he did not agree it was a strange coincidence that that three people who worked in a small corner of the Rutherford building had died from pancreatic cancer.
Freeclaim solicitor Liz Graham went on to say, "We urged Professor Coggon to contact all the people who worked in the building, but he refused, even though he accepted their evidence could have helped him. He himself says the number of people affected is striking."
Further evidence of the serious contamination problem exists in the history of the building. A confidential minute in the 70's suggests that security staff at the university were reluctant to enter the building as they were concerned at the deaths of four colleagues. Then in 1999, the rooms surrounding Rutherford's laboratories were discovered to be heavily contaminated with nuclear materials and mercury. However staff did not find out until two years later when a member of staff found an instruction not to enter and a radiation hazard warning on his office door.
Many staff members have chosen not to speak on record, however a recently retired former employee has told the Independent, "Why in 1999 did they move us out of our rooms to do remedial work, if they did not have any evidence of serious contamination?"
Liz Graham continues to be at the forefront of the campaign, representing the families of former employees of the university who have tragically died of pancreatic cancer.