Hollywood actor Michael Sheen embarked on an unexpected journey into a dark environmental secret after coming across a single line on Wikipedia about a man named Douglas Gowan. Gowan had discovered dangerously high levels of a toxic chemical escaping a landfill near farmland in south Wales. Intrigued, Sheen reached out to Gowan, who was seriously ill at the time and arranged to meet him to record his final testimony.
Gowan, a consultant for the National Farming Union, had been investigating the effects of a toxic chemical called poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) since the 1960s. PCBs, a type of ‘forever chemical’, were found in water samples collected from a landfill site near a farm in Llantrisant, Rhondda Cynon Taf. These chemicals, once celebrated for their fire-retardant properties and used in products like paint and paper, are now known to be highly toxic and their production is banned in 151 countries, including the UK.
Gowan believed that these chemicals were entering the food chain via fields, cattle, meat, and milk. Despite his efforts to expose this environmental hazard, the government’s own tests from the site revealed lower levels of PCBs. Gowan, who passed away in 2018, believed there was a conspiracy to silence him and spent a period of time in witness protection.
Sheen’s journey into this environmental secret reveals the horrifying legacy that PCB chemicals are having on the environment, our communities, and even our food chain. The scale of the problem and the potential dangers to people are overwhelming, highlighting the urgent need for action.
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