Families Of Fingerless, Web-Fingered Children Sue Northhamptonshire Council For Waste Mishandling

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Families of children born fingerless or with webbed hands and feet are to go to court on Monday to try to secure a multimillion-pound payout for birth defects which they claim were caused by a council's mismanagement of toxic waste dumps. The case is being compared to the thalidomide scandal of the 1960s and 1970s, when parents brought claims arising from their children's severe birth defects caused by having taken the drug for morning sickness.

In the new case, mothers allege that during their pregnancies in the 1980s and 1990s they were exposed to contamination from waste sites left over from the clean-up of Northamptonshire's former steel industry based in Corby. Toxicology and medical experts have told the families that the rate of upper and lower-limb abnormality in Corby is 10 times higher than the national average.

Des Collins, the solicitor running the case, said he had medical evidence that would prove the children's deformities are linked to the toxic waste dumps left by the former steel industry. He said: "We have now got medical reports that rule out alternative explanations for what caused the limb deformities in these children."

The town became a steel-making centre in the 1930s and by 1960 was one of the most heavily industrialised areas in the Midlands. In the early Eighties, the industry became unprofitable and British Steel closed the site, leaving the local council to take care of the clean-up operation. But Corby Borough Council denies any responsibility and has already spent £1m on lawyers and a public relations firm to defend the allegations. Final defence costs are set to reach £2.5m.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/toxic-waste-blamed-for-birth-defects-1609176.html