University expertise key in exposing 'environmental cover-up'

An award-winning podcast is using academic expertise to help expose an environmental cover-up involving ‘forever chemicals’. 

Following their award-winning first podcast series, investigative journalists Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor launch the second series of BBC Radio 4 environmental documentary podcast Buried on June 24. 

After investigating a toxic dump in Northern Ireland for the first series, the podcast hosts uncovered a box of unseen evidence and affidavits from a dead witness, leading them to discover an environmental secret and one of the world’s first-ever whistleblowers on polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS), also known as ‘forever chemicals’. 

They enlisted the help of Dr David Megson, Reader in Chemistry and Environmental Forensics at Manchester Metropolitan University, whose research and teaching in the fields of analytical chemistry and environmental science meant he had the ideal background to provide the scientific expertise needed for their investigation. 

They also discovered that the actor Michael Sheen recorded the witness’s final testimony, adding him to the investigators. 

Buried: The Last Witness reveals the results of the one-year investigation, involving dossiers of evidence, unseen documents and testing of British soil, supermarket food and even human blood. 

Dr Megson said: “I thoroughly enjoyed being involved with the podcast production. Normally I focus my science communication to be pitched at the level for the few scientific experts working in the same niche area, so it was a great challenge to try and communicate this complex information to be technically correct but also accessible to a general audience.  

“One of the sites that we visited was less than 10 km from where I grew up, so it was a real eye-opener as that site was the one where we found the highest PCB concentrations.  

“It was also great to work alongside the other guys as part of the production – normally I just chat PCBs with other scientists, but this was really enjoyable to chat about PCBs with journalists, an A-list celebrity and a vicar.” 

Investigative journalist and podcast co-creator Dan Ashby said: “We knew this was going to be one of the most ambitious pieces of investigative journalism we have ever done, so we approached the Royal Society of Chemistry for the best scientists, and that’s how we found Dave. 

“Dave is a journalist’s dream. He is a world-leading scientist in his field, and yet understands the importance of communicating in a human, personal way. It was a pleasure to work with him, and we hope his involvement with Smoke Trail Productions could be the beginning of something special. 

“We got to know Dave well. Travelled the country. Pored over the science. Dug up mud. Waded into rivers. Found space to laugh, amid all the moments of darkness. It is fair to say that without Dave, Manchester Metropolitan, and the RSC, this podcast would not be half of what it has become. We do not stand on the shoulders of giants. We did something better: we stood on the shoulders of scientists. 

“I feel passionate about the melding of science and storytelling. Science helps us understand what is happening to our world. But only stories will move us to action. And yet the two worlds of the storyteller and scientist so often cannot comprehend each other. In Buried: The Last Witness, we want to show what’s possible when we come together and throw the kitchen sink at one of the most insidious, complex and unsettling environmental crises facing our planet.” 

Buried: The Last Witness airs on BBC Radio 4 on June 24.