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Uncovering the Shocking Truth of Netflix’s Toxic Town: A Real-Life Environmental Horror

BBG News

Toxic Town” – currently streaming on Netflix

The gripping narrative unfolds around a real-life tragedy where harmful particulate matter polluted the air, leading to babies being born with limb deformities and other unusual physical conditions. This harrowing account is inspired by events in the English town of Corby, where residents unknowingly breathed in toxic dust that was later discovered to be linked to a series of birth defects among local children.

2009 marked the instance when a civil court in England linked birth defects to the careless handling of hazardous waste in the atmosphere by Corby, for the first time. This groundbreaking case, often referred to as the “British Erin Brockovich,” was brought about by mothers who sought justice from the leadership of Corby.

In the Netflix series, the tales unfold in a heart-wrenching manner, spanning over four episodes. We delve into the everyday lives of mothers, shrouded by clouds of orange dust. As their children are born, they find themselves in hospitals, with surgeries and medical appointments becoming recurring events due to complications. The series was informed by real-life mothers who went through this ordeal and later became part of a class-action lawsuit.

Here’s what to know about the true story behind Toxic Town.

How a cluster of birth defects was linked to toxic waste

In the show, Jodie Whittaker portrays Susan McIntyre, who becomes suspicious when she gives birth to a child with a malformed hand and ends up in a hospital room with another mother whose newborn has a similar condition at birth. Later, a call from a journalist triggers her suspicion that something isn’t quite right.

In 1999, a journalist named Graham Hind contacted McIntyre when her son was 18 months old. He had received information about potential issues at a decontaminated steelworks site in Corby, and a number of children born with limb deformities living near this site. This news was published in a Sunday Times article, revealing that these children, like McIntyre’s son, were missing fingers and other limb deformities. The landfill waste sites associated with a former British Steel plant were thought to be the cause of these issues.

Through local auditors’ report, Hind and Stephen Bevan obtained insights into one of the sites, previously believed to be cleaned up, being a quarry land with arsenic, zinc, boron, and nickel levels significantly surpassing environmental safety thresholds. Pediatrician John Scott, involved in a study linking birth defects to landfill waste disposal, deemed the Corby cluster an early signal of potential issues at hand.

Des Collins, a lawyer from Corby, read an article in Sunday’s Times that suggested other mothers might have experienced similar issues as they did. The article had revealed four cases of birth defects, leading to 19 families agreeing to participate in a class action lawsuit. The mothers had initially suspected they were not the only ones dealing with such issues, and it turned out their suspicions were correct.

Bevan explains, ‘Our tale was like a match igniting a flame.’ They’re everyday folks, suffering due to poor management. One of the key responsibilities of an impartial media is to give a voice to those who are otherwise unheard.

What it was like to live in the ‘toxic town‘

According to an article in the Sunday Times, residents reminisced about murky lakes that had a strong odor similar to a hospital ward, and children often playing near pools of bubbling liquid which would produce fizzing sounds when rocks were thrown into them.

According to press materials for Toxic Town, the real-life mothers behind the series’ characters shared insights into how the surrounding dust disrupted their everyday routines.

Tracey Taylor (Aimee Lou Wood), whose newborn had a malformed ear and passed away shortly after, vividly recalls “a powdery substance that spread everywhere,” as if an immense cloud from the Sahara desert had swept through. The air was incredibly murky, almost as if you could clean your desk, only to find it covered in dust again just moments later when picking up your coffee cup. She avoided going outdoors during dinner hours because the air seemed to scorch the back of her throat.

In the series, Taylor and McIntyre share a close friendship, urging other mothers to participate in the lawsuit. However, due to her child’s untimely demise, Taylor was unable to be one of the claimants herself.

Taylor mentioned that she frequently needed inhalers for her asthma while living in Corby, but didn’t require them when she was elsewhere. When she demonstrated her work commute to Collins, he suggested if the toxins were spreading as much as he believed, then she was undoubtedly breathing in polluted air during her daily commute.

Maggie Mahon (played by Claudia Jessie), whose spouse Derek (Joe Dempsie) worked at the reclamation site, shared that upon his return home, she often found it necessary to remove dirt from his clothes. Their son was born with a club foot and underwent multiple surgeries to walk correctly.

She recalled pondering if there could be a link between the dust and her son’s deformity when she chanced upon an article in the local newspaper featuring Collins seeking families with children who had disabilities. “Derek walked in from work, and I exclaimed, ‘Take a look at this—you worked surrounded by it all, and Sam developed a club foot—isn’t that quite unusual?’

Mahon ended up joining the class action suit, but Derek could not because of his work.

How the Corby case was won

According to “Toxic Town,” it was revealed that Collins’ legal team obtained numerous documents from Sam Hagen, a former council worker (portrayed by Robert Carlyle), which exposed the fact that the measures taken by Corby Borough council to prevent contamination were largely ineffective. These documents were provided to him by a senior engineering technician who had worries about contamination after working on the site.

10 years following the publication of the 1999 Sunday Times article, a court determined in 2009 that Corby borough council was accountable for negligence.

In simpler terms, “The Corby borough council allowed and facilitated the widespread spread of polluted mud and dust over public spaces within Corby, as well as into private homes,” the judge stated, “which could potentially have caused the birth defects mentioned by the claimants (with exceptions in certain instances).

Several laid-off steelworkers, now finding employment at the cleanup sites due to industry decline, may not have been initially versed in toxic waste management. The wheels of vehicles transporting hazardous materials became coated, and the intended wheel-washing process worsened the situation as these machines were washed with tainted water rather than fresh.

Back in April 2010, the Corby local government and the affected families came to an agreement, though the specific sum of money these mothers got as compensation remains confidential.

Collins, who is frequently involved in civil lawsuits involving families, emphasizes that the case serves as a cautionary tale for areas undertaking land reclamation initiatives: “Insurance firms are now advising those reclaiming contaminated sites to be aware of Corby’s dangers, so they can avoid similar incidents. In this sense, yes, it has been beneficial. It hasn’t resulted in additional lawsuits, but rather a more careful and prudent attitude towards land reclamation. However, there might still be unaddressed issues.

Cases akin to Corby’s are costly and often turn off lawyers due to doubts about potential returns and insufficient resources for legal aid to cover the work. However, the mothers behind Toxic Town aim that this case could resonate with others who may have connections to Corby or concerns about pollution in their own communities. As McIntyre expresses throughout the press notes, financial gain was never a concern; instead, they were driven by the question of ‘Why did this happen to us?’ and ‘How can we prevent it from happening to anyone else?’

Lawyers tend to avoid costly cases like Corby’s because they don’t believe they’ll make a profit and there isn’t enough legal aid. But the people behind Toxic Town hope their case will reach those who may relate or have concerns about pollution, while McIntyre states that they aren’t motivated by money but rather by understanding ‘Why did this happen to us?’ and preventing it from happening again.

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2025-02-27 12:06

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