title: The social and psychological impact of the chemical contamination incident in Weston Village, UK: a qualitative analysis.
abstract: This paper contributes to the literature on community response to the announcement of well-established chemical contamination close to their homes. It describes a study of residents' views of chemical contamination on a close and long-standing community in the context of impacts on everyday life. This followed the discovery early in 2000 that houses in Weston Village, in the County of Cheshire, England, were contaminated by the chemical hexachlorobutadiene which was seeping from a sealed chemical waste quarry owned by Imperial Chemical Industries, one of the world's largest chemical companies. Qualitative methods were used for the study. A total of 23 people from the village were interviewed in 15 focused, semi-structured interviews. This study highlights the importance of attention to secondary, community-level and interpersonal-level health impacts in the face of epidemiological uncertainty.
authors.affiliation: St Catherines Hospital, Wirral Health Authority, Church Road, Tranmere, Birkenhead CH42 0LQ, UK. gjba@btinternet.com
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baxter
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Litva
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Staples
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis; D002070:Butadienes / Q000506:poisoning*; D002617:Chemical Industry; D035881:Compensation and Redress; D004739:England; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000032:analysis; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000506:poisoning*; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015980:Public Health Practice / Q000592:standards; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013240:Stereotyping; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid
chemical_list: D002070:Butadienes; D015386:Hazardous Substances; C001335:hexachlorobutadiene