'I'll never know if Dalgety Bay radiation caused my son's death'
Graham Gibson • Published 6 May 2011 08:15
13 Comments
CAUSE or coincidence? That is the harrowing question that has haunted one grieving father whose son passed away from cancer 25 years after spending his youth playing on Dalgety Bay beach.
Philip Bullock can still recall taking sand from the beach to use in his son's sand pit, believing the area to be an idyllic location for his family to live.
It was only when friends alerted him about the radioactive particles discovered at Dalgety Bay that Philip began to make a connection between the area and his son, James (pictured), who was diagnosed with leukaemia a decade after the family had left West Fife.
Philip said, "From our kitchen we could see out into the Firth of Forth. We thought it was an idyllic place in terms of bringing up young kids.
"James was born in Dunfermline in April 1979 and we also had a daughter of two at the time so we spent many hours on what we viewed as a rather convenient and beautiful beach.
"It was friends who alerted us to the contamination in Dalgety Bay.
"I would use sand from the beach for sand pits for the kids in the garden and I often wonder about that.
"You go through your mind as a parent, you go through these areas, could it be this, could it be that?
"You go through a whole host of emotions trying to find an answer but the bottom line is you never will.
"For all I know it might not be Dalgety Bay, it could be anything but clearly that point in our life stands out."
The family moved to Wiltshire in 1982 and James was first diagnosed on Christmas Eve 10 years later, aged only 13.
He underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Bristol Children's Hospital and eventually had a bone marrow transplant.
The treatment proved successful but in 2007 he collapsed and was diagnosed with leukaemia for a second time.
Philip said, "He was engaged to be married and had just ran a 12km race the month before he began feeling unwell.
"After 10 years we thought we had got rid of the problem but he had blood tests and the next day we found he had myeloid leukaemia.
"There are various degrees of that disease and he unfortunately got the worst."
The dreadful events again led Philip to cast his mind back to when the family stayed in Dalgety Bay while he worked for a pharmaceutical company.
He said, "I now follow events in Dalgety Bay quite closely.
"When you have got a child going through the dreadful process of trying to fight off leukaemia then you tend to start associating things.
"The interesting thing was James' consultant knew about Dalgety Bay. He asked one day where we lived and we said we moved down from Scotland from a place called Dalgety Bay and he knew all about it."
Radioactive particles were first discovered by Rosyth dockyard workers in 1990 and subsequent surveys found traces of radium-226 at the beach, in nearby gardens and next to Dalgety Bay Sailing Club.
It's believed that the radiation was caused by the break-up and dumping of old World War Two fighter planes - that used radium to light up dials - in the Forth in the 1950s.
There are currently signs in place to warn people of the hazards and urging them not to take home beach mementos.
"Unfortunately with cancer you can never say conclusively that's where it stems from," continued Philip.
"The poor people wrestling with the power station in Japan, if they go down with cancer one could probably say with some confirmation that it probably stems from what they're doing. With James, who knows?
"As far as I'm concerned I shall never know if it's Dalgety Bay or whatever else we've done in our lives.
"It's too late for James but we often worry about ourselves and our daughter.
"Thank God we're all alive and we've got a granddaughter now but, naturally, we worry."
A Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) spokesperson said, "The Scottish Environment Protection Agency recognises the hazard posed by the radiological contamination at Dalgety Bay and reported on it in 2006 and again in 2009.
"A further report will be published shortly. In 2006, signs were erected at Dalgety Bay beach warning members of the public of the potential hazards.
"We do not have sufficient information to comment on the possibility of a link between this case and the radiological contamination at Dalgety Bay, there are other potential reasons for the cancer to develop and it would be impossible to determine the actual cause."
Have your say. Post a comment on this article.
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Jo hardy
Unregistered User
May 6, 14:22
Report commentMy brother was an MOD policeman based at Faslane on the Clyde. He died of Stomach Cancer in 1999 and we as a family will always believe his cancer was caused by his working environment although we will never be able to prove it. It is so sad to hear of families suffering in this way!
Recommend?
Yes 6
No 2
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jan the man
Unregistered User
May 6, 15:22
Report comment -
Angus
Unregistered User
May 6, 21:12
Report commentGoing on the beach and retrieving Dalgety Bay is a definite possibility (a low one), however working at Faslane is very, very unlikely. The additional radiation that workers at Sellafield, the UK's nuclear reprocessing and storage plant (home of the 2 most hazardous industrial buildings in Europe), is equivalent to one transatlantic flight per year - so to say Faslane likely caused it is not particularly fair.
People are very quick to pin any sort of cancer on the nuclear industry, in fact it's quite the opposite. If you live next to Torness Nuclear Power Station, you would be exposed to an absolutely tiny amount of extra radiation. If you live next to Longannet Coal Power Station, you'll be exposed to several times that.
Recommend? Yes 3
No 1
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keepoofthelawn
Unregistered User
May 9, 10:01
Report commentThere is a difference between causation and causality. Epidemiological studies during the 1950s and 1960s showed that lung cancer sufferers where more likely to eat bananas than smoke cigarettes (around 95% ate bananas regularly and 70% smoked).
This paper has twice in the past few months posted articles that air peoples desperate ideas (a Rosyth man claiming traffic near his house caused his cancer) and now someone who stole sand from a beach 30 years ago is blaming herself for her childs' death.
Recommend? Yes 4
No 7
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daisychain
Unregistered User
May 15, 13:39
Report commentWhy can't people just except that no one knows why anyone really gets certain kinds of cancers, but that the poor family members that are left missing their loved ones sometimes feel the need to find out 'WHY?' and that they are not blaming anyone or anything but merely trying to find out answers just in the small glimmer of hope that it might ease the pain of everyday.....? Why do you horrible insensitive people have to write such cruel things - like 'someone who stole sand from a beach 30 years ago....blaming themselves for their child's death' - do you not think that that parent probably does blame themselves and wonders why? all the time and if things could have possibly been prevented?? Who ever you are 'keepoffthelawn' you must be a very fortunate person to have never suffered as you would clearly think before you wrote such nasty comments about people who are clearly still suffering and in mourning over their own personal and tragic losses.
Recommend? Yes 8
No 0
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keepoofthelawn
Unregistered User
May 16, 15:42
Report comment'do you not think that that parent probably does blame themselves and wonders why?'
It is part of human nature to blame ourselves and others when things are out of our control. Death is the example here. It is one thing to be mournful of a loved ones passing but quite the other to go to a newspaper about your opinions. Did the mother not think that she will unnecessarily panic people living nearby? Grasping at causality when you are looking causation is not something to be taken to the press. I do think that the Dunfermline Press should not publish peoples sobs stories when there are no facts.
Recommend? Yes 2
No 5
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keepoofthelawn
Unregistered User
May 16, 15:53
Report commentThe Press Complaint Commissions Editors Code of Practice clearly says the stories should be accurate, not misleading and distinguish between fact and conjecture. The 2 scare stories fail to be based in fact and are mere gossip:
Accuracy
i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.
ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published. In cases involving the Commission, prominence should be agreed with the PCC in advance.
iii) The Press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.
iv) A publication must report fairly and accurately the outcome of an action for defamation to which it has been a party, unless an agreed settlement states otherwise, or an agreed statement is published.
http://www.pcc.org.uk/cop/practice.html
Recommend? Yes 2
No 5
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daisychain
Unregistered User
May 17, 14:26
Report commentWhat if the paper went to that family and not the other way around......you do not know all the facts either.....what IF that beach did have something to do with that poor man's death? Nobody knows and it can't be proven either way....if I lived there I would want to know these stories and then I could make my own choices regarding where and what I did. The fact that there is radiation on that beach is exactly that, a FACT. The fact that radiation causes cancer is also a FACT. So it is a fair publication, it is a theory, no one is blaming that beach, it is a possibility that is all and that is all the 'story' is saying.
Let's hope you never have a similar event in your life where you are desperate for answers and you can't find any. Maybe put your busy bodying efforts into something a bit more worth while/kind/considerate and positive in future?
Recommend? Yes 9
No 1
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Smarmy Git
Unregistered User
May 20, 00:20
Report commentIts also FACT that too much exposure to the sun causes cancer, its also a FACT that smoking has a direct result in cancer, its also a FACT that exposure to asbestos causes cancer, a bad diet, high levels of Radon gas (which is a all around us by the way) too much booze etc etc etc.
We are all exposed to carcenogens every day, whether we get cancer or not is a bit of a lottery really, some do and its tragic (my dear old dad had a very aggresive and pianful cancer that got him in the end) and some don't and have the most unhealthy lifestyles going.
Recommend? Yes 1
No 2
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Fred
Unregistered User
May 22, 15:29
Report commentdaisychain,
Without radiation we would be dead. FACT. (The Sun generates it's heat and light from fusion reactions)
Radiation is everywhere. FACT. (Open up the battery compartment of your smoke detector)
Exposure to radiation can cause cancer, conversely it can also cure cancer. FACT. (Radiotherapy)
Chernobyl released several tons of highly radioactive material into the atmosphere, some of which was subsequently deposited in Scotland by the rain. FACT. (Google it)
Chernobyl was erm....Oh, 25 years ago...
Recommend? Yes 3
No 2
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jan the man
Unregistered User
May 30, 16:51
Report commentaarrgghh---gonna pee on the neighbours cats
Recommend? Yes 1
No 0
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towanda
4 posts
Nov 29, 11:50
Report commenthi this thread is probably closed now but I need to contact cancer sufferers and their families in Dalgety Bay area who believe their cancer is dur to this exposure, I have three members of my own family affected.
Recommend? Yes 0
No 0
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christhomson2012
2 posts
Feb 17, 13:27
Report commentHi Towanda
I posted earlier on here in a different thread to do with the same subject
I believe I to was affected here's what I said
when I was a boy my parents took me to dalgety bay beach alot
Aroound 1989/1990 I was diagnosed with lukimia , but at the time when my parents tried to do somthing about it, they where told there was no evidence to link my lukimia and the recent news of the polluted beach,
And nhs fife says cancer was nothing untoward back then, there where 5 cases including me, Probbably more than 5
And they say nothing has ever happend
Anybody thinking about ever going there with your kids, should reconsider
Recommend? Yes 1
No 0
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