Blood test call for people potentially impacted by cancer-causing chemicals in the ground

“We appreciate that the communities are worried and that is understandable, but the testing isn’t necessarily going to give any good answers,” said Prof Sarah Jones, consultant in environmental public health at PHW.

“Generally when we do any sort of testing we want to be able to put things right for people and that’s what we can’t do here.”

She argued that there were too many “unknowns” about the impacts of concentrations of PCBs on the body and no treatment for those found to have elevated levels in their blood.

“All we could do is give [people] a number that we can’t really interpret and then we can’t make right.”

She felt this could “create even more worry and that is a health harm in itself.”

“There is nothing that blood testing can do that would magically take those worries away – it would only potentially magnify them,” Jones said.

Asked whether the cost of implementing a blood testing regime was also a factor, she said: “No… this is not about money.”

Rather than blood testing, Jones argued public authorities should focus on taking “whatever steps need to be taken to make these [suspected dumpsites] as safe as possible”.

Dr Will Mackintosh, from the Royal College of GPs Cymru, said it may be that “additional support” will be required for GPs in communities where concerns have been raised about alleged contamination in future.