In April 2006, leading scientists called for a new inquiry into the effect of Britain’s worst large-scale water poisoning after providing the first evidence that it could have caused the death of a woman from an extremely rare form of Alzheimer.

A research published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry suggests this woman’s neurological illness and subsequent death could have been brought about by the 1988 Camelford incident, when a driver tipped 20 tonnes of highly toxic aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at a water treatement works by mistake.

Up to 20.000 people were exposed to high concentrations of aluminium (up to 3.000 times the legal limit). However, despite three inquiries, there has been no systematic monitoring of residents.

Chris Exley, the lead author of the research, and Professor Daniel Perl, an authority on Alzheimer diseases and aluminium, are calling for the Camelford residents to be monitored after finding that the dead woman had more than 20 times the normal level of aluminium in her brain. She also suffered from a rare type of Alzheimer which would not be expected in someone with no genetic predisposition to it.

For more information, read the article “Alzheimer’s research triggers call for new water poisoning inquiry” published by the Guardian.