The scientist who claimed that Damien Hirst’s formaldehyde artworks were leaking fumes dangerous to the public has retracted his findings as “inaccurate”.
A recent paper said Hirst’s famed pieces involving animals preserved in tanks, which were displayed at Tate Modern, were releasing well above acceptable levels of carcinogenic fumes.
However, an investigation into the allegations by Hirst’s Science Ltd company has discredited the paper, proving there was “never any risk to the public”.
Prof Pier Giorgio Righetti, who co-authored the April report, titled Remote Sensing of Formaldehyde Fumes in Indoor Environments, has admitted his findings were unreliable and inaccurate.
Righetti apologised for “any alarm or concern the paper may have caused” and requested that his research be formally retracted.
The paper singled out Hirst’s pickled animal installations, such as his 1994 piece Away From the Flock, which is a lamb preserved in formaldehyde, and Mother and Child (Divided), which features the bisected corpse of a cow and a calf, as potentially toxic to the air.
The findings claimed the works were emitting cancerous fumes indoors which reached levels of 5ppm (parts per million), dangerously higher than the 0.5ppm limit set by legislation.
But after re-examining the evidence, all of Hirst’s work were found to have formaldehyde readings lower than 0.1ppm
“The cause of the discrepancy with the readings published in the paper was identified and it was agreed that there cannot have been formaldehyde present at the dangerously high levels originally cited,” Hirst’s spokesperson said.
