Environmental experts have accused the government of failing to “get to grips” with two decades of evidence detailing how hundreds of farm animals in England suffered lead poisoning after being reared near abandoned metal mines.
Analysis by the Financial Times of official reports dating back to 2004 found 78 investigations identifying 378 animals that had died from lead poisoning or were displaying signs of it, including “blindness”, “seizures”, “twitching” and “frothing at the mouth”.
There are more than 3,600 old lead mines in England alone that continue to disperse the metal into the environment. Lead can accumulate in waterways and soil before being consumed by animals and entering the food chain.
In all the cases, documented in anonymised reports commissioned by the Food Standards Agency, investigators said the cause of the environmental lead exposure was a farm’s proximity to an old lead mine or former lead smelting site.
After a Financial Times investigation last year into the risks of abandoned metal mines, England’s environment watchdog was ordered by the government to find out if local councils are identifying contaminated land downstream of historic lead workings.
The FSA has also said it will investigate lead levels in food produced near abandoned sites.
Professor Toby Knowles, who previously led government-commissioned research into lead intoxication in farm animals, said the findings into animals “demonstrate they [ministers] have known about it for a long time but have never got to grips with addressing it”.
“There appears to be no re-engagement with these farmers or any co-ordinated approach. They are reliant on reports coming to them to be investigated, which gives us no real sense of how many more cases there are likely to be,” he added.
Millions of animals are slaughtered in the UK every year for food consumption, although only 400-450 samples are tested for the presence of lead.
Mark Macklin, a professor at the University of Lincoln who was previously commissioned by the environment department to look into potential mine pollution, said the reports suggested there was “likely to be a problem of significant under-reporting.
“While these cases are shocking, it’s perhaps of greater concern that testing and links to lead are only made on or very close to mines,” he added, noting that research he started after major flooding incidents in Yorkshire in 1986 and 2000 found the metal had been “dispersed many tens of kilometres away from the mines”.
Consumed by humans, the metal has a devastating impact on almost every organ in the body, with any level of exposure capable of having a harmful effect.
The investigations were carried out across England by the Animal and Plant Health Agency, on behalf of the FSA, between 2004 and 2022.
They were launched after reports from vets or farmers of food-producing animals who had, or may have, been exposed to chemicals that could harm food safety. In all cases, the APHA said the farmer had verbally agreed not to allow the animals to enter the food chain.
Among the cases documented is one from 2008 in which lead poisoning was diagnosed in a group of 50 adult dairy cows. “Classic clinical signs of lead poisoning were observed which included blindness, twitching, frothing at the mouth, ataxia, recumbency and death,” the report said.
Conservative MP Sir Julian Smith, whose constituency of Skipton and Ripon in North Yorkshire has an estimated 412 old lead mines, said the cases in the reports were “horrendous”.
“It begs the question what follow-up work was undertaken to check and quarantine relevant agricultural land and to communicate lead poisoning risks to communities local to these cases,” he added. “Yet again in plain sight the UK has all the evidence on legacy lead poisoning but continues to fail to ensure public and animal safety.”
The UK’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate, an agency of the environment department, currently tests just 400 to 450 samples of meat, milk, fish and honey for the presence of lead and other heavy metals each year.
About 40 cases of lead exceeding safety thresholds have been detected in the past 10 years, according to the VMD. But experts have said testing such a small number of food items offers an insufficient assessment.
Rebecca Sudworth, FSA director of policy, said in a statement: “There is no safe level for lead but there are maximum levels for the foods we eat the most such as meat, milk and vegetables. This is because, the more lead you consume over your lifetime, the more likely it is to harm your health.
“Businesses must ensure the food they produce does not go beyond the maximum levels set by law,” she added.