Former Shrewsbury groundsman appeals for help

Ken West believes he was exposed to harmful chemicals while working in the old section of Longden Road Cemetery in the early 1960s and is now hoping to talk to others who may also have been affected.

The 72-year-old who now lives in Christchurch in Dorset has recently been diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia which he thinks may be linked to the time he spent working at the cemetery between 1962-64.

Mr West, who was awarded the MBE for his work for the bereaved, was just 15 years old when he began work as a groundsman and trainee gardener and was taught Victorian horticulture.

"I was seconded onto a grounds spraying team," he said.

"For a week each year, we sprayed grass growth retarder - maleic hydrazide - and a herbicide, 2,4-D, and dioxins may have been added.

"Both myself and some of my colleagues fell ill for a day or two whilst doing this work. These chemicals were also used at that time by the US under Agent Orange to defoliate trees in Vietnam, and caused many blood cancers."

Researchers have found apparent links between exposure to 2,4-D and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a blood cancer, and sarcoma, a soft-tissue cancer. But both of these can be caused by a number of chemicals, including dioxin, which was frequently mixed into formulations of 2,4-D until the mid-1990s.

It's still used widely in agriculture in soybean, corn, sugarcane, and wheat fields, and it turns up in most "weed and feed" products as well as in many lawn treatments.

Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer.

Now Mr West, who designed and opened the world's first natural burial site, wrote the Charter for the Bereaved, was awarded an MBE and introduced the re-usable coffin for cremation, is trying to get in touch with anyone in Shrewsbury who either worked at the cemetery on Longden Road, or who knew someone who did, to get in touch.

"It would be interesting to see whether they have contracted a similar illness," he said. "I cannot recall their names but at least five of the men in the photo worked in the spraying team."

To get in touch with Mr West email kenwest610@aol.com.