Residents living in the shadow of Grenfell Tower have said they fear for their health after an independent study found cancer-causing chemicals near to the 24-storey block, which was destroyed by fire in 2017.
The study published on Wednesday identified “significant environmental contamination” from toxins collected 17 months after the blaze from a flat 160 metres from the site.
Tenants living on the Lancaster West estate, of which Grenfell Tower is part, said they are being kept in the dark about potential harms. Many spoke of symptoms suffered by family members, which they fear might be linked to the pollutants.
Elena Chesnokova, 45, a mother-of-three, said: “We have concerns about our health. We have kids. Where’s the border [for the reach of the contamination]? There’s a primary school here. There’s no information, if it’s dangerous they have to move people out. Our youngest has skin problems – is it because of the fire or because of something else?”
As well as St Francis of Assisi Catholic primary school, which lies to the south of the Lancaster West estate (Grenfell is on its north side), there is a nursery within the estate, where children were playing outside on Thursday.
Ann Raphael, 53, who used to live on the estate but now resides nearby, said: “I’m worried for the children in the nursery. Something needs to be done. They should let residents know what’s going on. I am very angry. I can’t believe that there’s still stuff in the air. You can still see bits of the cladding.”
Raphael said her 90-year-old mother still lives on the estate and fears for her health. “Right now it’s very hard for her to move without gasping for breath and I don’t know whether it’s this [pollution],” she said.
Maria Dorey, 74, had particular concerns about Prof Anna Stec’s findings relating to fire debris and soil as she cultivates one of the plots on the estate, separated from the fire site only by Grenfell Walk.
“We are really worried now,” she said. “We sweep up the soil and everything; we didn’t know it was dangerous. That dust has been going back on us. We’ve been doing it for a year and a half. We still get little bits of cladding we’ve been picking up after all this time.”
Dorey said that as a consequence of the report her and other people who worked on the plots were planning health checks, including tests on their lungs.
Marco Picardi, a local environmental activist, who has been raising the issue of contamination ever since the fire, said: “These results are alarming and the institutional response to Grenfell’s environmental questions has only served to widen the gulf in the trust between residents and the authorities. People need clarity to fully understand the implications for local health and the environment.”
Labour local councillor Judith Blakeman said residents were up in arms about the report and that the government had been too slow to address concerns.
“People now expect that as a matter of course they will develop cancer, their life expectancy will be reduced and they of course have concerns about their children getting cancer,” she said. “They might be unfounded but they have no evidence to counter this.”
At a council event on Thursday, the Kensington and Chelsea council leader, Elizabeth Campbell, acknowledged residents’ concerns and said she had asked the government to speed up its environmental checks programme.
“Anyone who is concerned should speak to their GP, who will arrange for additional health checks to be carried out,” she said.
• This article was amended on 29 March 2019 because an earlier version misnamed Marco Picardi as Mario Picardi. This has been corrected.
