Environmental Assistance at Work

Our work has helped individuals and community groups involved in disputes concerning environmental pollution.

Review the background to the Lowermoor water poisoning incident where we have a continuing role in this on-going saga. Only through information we supplied are some victims now receiving disability allowances. We produced a report at the request of The Camelford Action Group, a local community group, and called for a public enquiry.

• In the case of the Yelland Incinerator in North Devon, a scientific study carried out by an Environmental Assistance consultant clearly demonstrated that emissions of dioxins were unacceptably high.

• Mrs Joanne Bell, an environmental campaigner who we worked with, was closely involved in the fight against the incinerator.

• Mrs Bell says that an increasing number of people are prepared to challenge ill-conceived planning decisions which threaten their local environment and their community's health. However, says Mrs Bell, such actions are fraught with difficulties, not least the knowledge that merely being 'right' by no means secures victory. For the uninitiated this is the first and hardest fact to swallow.

• In North Devon, residents joined together to fight South West Water's sewage sludge incinerator at Yelland. This was the first of its type, and we felt we were being used as guinea pigs, with the community's health being put at risk from dangerous emissions of dioxins. We were fighting not only South West Water, but our own North Devon District Council with all its power, expertise and financial resources.

The catastrophic effects of poisoning from dry cleaning fumes detailed in extracts from George Maddison's diary speak for themselves. Environmental Assistance put George in touch with medical and legal experts who helped his dogged battle to obtain redress.

Finally, we offer some advice on finding the right medical expert for people who suspect their health has been affected by pollution.

These case-studies clearly demonstrate the desperate need for independent, objective information concerning environmental pollution and its effect on human health.

page top^