Monsanto Contamination - Steve Witherden

Demanding truth and justice

Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are a group of highly toxic, carcinogenic chemical compounds, the production of which was banned in the late 1970s and 1980s.

It is suspected that PCBs were produced by Monsanto at the old ‘Ruabon Works’ factory in my constituency. The derelict site remains, and straddles four villages: Acrefair, Cefn Mawr, and Rhosymedre (and Trevor, in our neighbouring constituency). It has long been feared that PCB waste was dumped across a number of locations throughout the surrounding area.

I am demanding:

The full, expert soil/ground testing of known and suspected dumping sites by Natural Resources Wales (NRW), alongside water testing of the River Dee, the Trefynant Brook and its smaller unnamed tributary by Dŵr Cymru, as well as sites around Llwyneinion
The establishment of a voluntary blood testing programme by Public Health Wales
The raw data from both cancer cluster studies undertaken by the North Wales Health Authority from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (as its successor organisation), retained cancer data on the CANISC database, and anonymised local respiratory illness data
The urgent intervention of the Welsh Government Cabinet Ministers for Health and Care (Mabon ap Gwynfor MS) and Rural Resilience and Sustainability (Llyr Gruffydd MS) in this matter
The cooperation of Wrexham County Borough Council in all of the above, with specific regard to granting access to suspected dumping sites

We deserve to know the truth.

I have been working to determine the scale and severity of the contamination since my election, including through my position on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. I asked experts and stakeholders (including the Secretary of State for Wales, a Welsh Government minister, academics, representatives from charities, and others) twelve individual, formal questions during evidence sessions of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee dating back to April 2025:

Despite two meetings on this topic with Natural Resources Wales and a barrage of letters to them, the Welsh Government, and Wrexham County Borough Council, no commitment to comprehensive testing has been forthcoming.

The Buried documentary, broadcast in August 2026 and presented by Michael Sheen, then followed. I appeared in the second episode, recounting to the investigative team my experience of trying to uncover the truth. It has generated a level of public attention I only dreamed of before.

I am now doing everything I can to assist the community-led Monsanto Contamination Action Group in getting truth and justice, including for my family, who have been personally affected as we live less than half a mile from one of the dumping sites.

Join the Monsanto Contamination Action Group Facebook page by clicking here.

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