Sellafield autopsies: bodies were removed illegally

The three-year investigation into Sellafield autopsies, the findings of which were announced today, focused mainly on organs removed from 76 workers on behalf of scientists at the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria between 1962 and 1991.

But the inquiry, led by Michael Redfern QC, also reveals thousands of other organ and tissue samples were unlawfully removed by pathologists working on behalf of the government’s nuclear and medical research establishments over nearly 40 years.

“I would like to give reassurance to the public that these events are historic and as far as we can tell are not taking place today,” said Energy Secretary Chris Huhne. “That is not to diminish the distress and suffering of families due to the events of the past,” he added.

Removal of human tissue without the consent of relatives was made illegal under the Human Tissue Act of 2004. However, even under the previous Act of 1961 it was against the law for a pathologist to remove and store organs without the permission of a coroner and without relatives’ consent.

Sellafield

In his report Michael Redfern is most critical of the role of pathologists working with medical officers at Sellafield.

He writes: “Pathologists’ ignorance of the legal provisions under which they performed their work was profound.”

The inquiry found: “Relatives were let down at the time when they were most vulnerable, by those in whom they were entitled to place an absolute trust.”

The report found there was a “close” relationship between the chief medical officers at Sellafield at the time and pathologists at the local hospital. The inquiry describes the steps taken by the Sellafield medical officers to obtain the remains of exposed workers as “dubious” and could be regarded as a manipulation of the coronial process. Both the medical officers involved are now deceased.

Legality

British Nuclear Fuels Limited, which operated Sellafield at the time, no longer exists. Sellafield is now operated by Sellafield Limited. The inquiry found that while BNFL knew the research was going on – it was designed to improve radiation testing used for worker safety at the plant – they could not have known pathologists were breaking the law in supplying organs to their medical staff. The Redfern inquiry concluded that the legality of the Sellafield experiments was not clear.

The medical officers from Sellafield would often collect organs from pathologists in person. Organs were placed in the back of their cars in plastic bags and stored in a freezer at Sellafield until they were analysed.

Body parts – including livers, thigh bones, vertebrae, brains and hearts – were stored there for months. In one case organs were stored for four years before being analysed.

Remains were eventually disposed of as waste at the Low Level Waste Repository at Drigg in Cumbria.

The report found that “the legality of the analysis performed at Sellafield is not clear.”

However it found that the knowledge gained from the research was very useful to worker safety at Sellafield. Despite some families’ calls for the data obtained from the post mortems to be destroyed, the inquiry concluded they should be anonymised and made available for future research.