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Douglas Gowan

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Douglas Gowan (1943–2018)[1][2] was a former Assistant Parliamentary Secretary at the National Farmers Union and a researcher on PCBs. He found pollution near Brofiscin Quarry, near Llantrisant in South Wales and filed the first official report in 1972 after nine cows on a local farm died of poisoning.[3]

In 2007 The Ecologist reported that Gowan had been offered witness protection after receiving death threats.[1] He also stated that he had been discredited by Monsanto through a two-year smear campaign.[4][5] His testing equipment was frequently vandalised and he was assaulted on site. At one stage attempts were made to bribe him and he was severely beaten by two men with iron bars, at Dolphin Square in London, leaving him with broken ribs.[6][7]

Welsh actor Michael Sheen first read Gowan's name in an article in Wikipedia in 2017,[2][note 1] visited him and recorded a seven-hour interview, and spoke about him in his 2017 Raymond Williams Memorial Lecture.[8][9]

His work formed the basis of the BBC Radio 4 series Buried: The Last Witness, first broadcast in June 2024.[10][11] Following the podcast's success,[12][13][14] BBC Factual and BBC Cymru Wales commissioned a two-part investigative documentary series titled Buried with Michael Sheen, hosted by Michael Sheen, to bring Gowan's findings to a wider audience.[15][16] The documentary, exposing the manufacture of PCBs by Monsanto in Newport and their dumping of large amounts of toxic industrial waste, was broadcast on BBC Two across two weeks in August 2026.[17] Buried with Michael Sheen was well-received[18][19] and prompted dozens of people to contact BBC Wales and Sheen to share their experiences regarding PCBs dumping.[20][21] Chair of the Welsh Affairs Committee Ruth Jones called on the UK Government to increase funding to tackle pollution from abandoned metal mines, support at-risk communities, and coordinate testing across the UK following the documentary.[22][23]

Gowan’s findings became the central subject of the 2026 book The Last Witness: One Man’s Fight to Expose a Chemical Contamination Scandal, and the Conspiracy to Silence Him, written by co-creators of the podcast Buried Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor, with a foreword by Michael Sheen.[24][25]

Bibliography

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Gowan, Douglas (1972). Slurry and Farm Waste Disposal. Farming Press. ISBN 0-852-36021-5, 978-0-85236-021-7[26]

Notes

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  1. ↑ The reference Sheen read may have been the sentence "The Ecologist claimed in a 2007 article that IBT had provided expert testimony against Douglas Gowan during a court case ..." in the article Industrial Bio-Test Laboratories, which was in the encyclopedia during 2017.

References

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  1. 1 2 Hughes, Jon; Thomas, Pat (11 October 2007). "Burying The Truth, the original Ecologist investigation into Monsanto and Brofiscin Quarry". The Ecologist. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  2. 1 2 "How Michael Sheen helped to uncover a dark environmental secret". BBC News. 24 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  3. ↑ Vidal, John (12 February 2007). "Monsanto dumped toxic waste in UK". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  4. ↑ "Open letter from Douglas Gowan". The Ecologist. 16 August 2007. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  5. ↑ "Buried - The Last Witness - The Last Witness - 3. Discredit Gowan". BBC Sounds. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  6. ↑ Stacey, Patrick (17 August 2026). "'Buried with Michael Sheen' review: The Welsh star probes a chemical poisoning scandal in a highly personal documentary". Irish Independent. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  7. ↑ Hughes, John (30 November 2007). "Silenced witness". The Ecologist. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "Annual Raymond Williams Memorial Lecture". Open University in Wales. 10 November 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
    "[Transcipt of lecture]" (PDF). pp. 27–29. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  9. ↑ "Actor Michael Sheen slams Monsanto for causing pollution in Wales". www.gmwatch.org. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  10. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Buried, The Last Witness". BBC. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  11. ↑ Wray, Daniel Dylan (24 June 2024). "'Please come and see me because I'll be dead soon': how Michael Sheen got sucked into a forever chemicals exposé". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  12. ↑ Davies, Hannah J. (24 December 2024). "The 20 best podcasts of 2024". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  13. ↑ "UK documentary wins top prize at 2025 New York Radio Awards". RadioToday. 23 May 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  14. ↑ Ferrara, Danilo (27 September 2025). "Tutti i vincitori dei DIG Awards 2025". DIG Festival (in Italian). Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  15. ↑ "BBC announces new Factual series with Michael Sheen". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  16. ↑ "Michael Sheen to front documentary on chemical contamination in South Wales | Royal Television Society". rts.org.uk. 26 January 2026. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  17. ↑ "BBC Two - Buried with Michael Sheen". BBC.
  18. ↑ Seale, Jack (17 August 2026). "Buried With Michael Sheen review – this vital look at a toxic waste scandal is deeply enraging TV". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  19. ↑ Bennion, Chris (17 August 2026). "Michael Sheen's superb exposé of toxic dumping made my blood boil". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 August 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ↑ "Michael Sheen toxic waste documentary 'the tip of the iceberg'". www.bbc.com. 26 August 2026. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  21. ↑ "Michael Sheen hopes reaction to toxic waste documentary spurs action". www.bbc.com. 27 August 2026. Retrieved 29 August 2026.
  22. ↑ "Metal mine pollution in Wales: Comment from Welsh Affairs Committee Chair Ruth Jones MP - Committees - UK Parliament". committees.parliament.uk. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  23. ↑ Mansfield, Mark (24 August 2026). "Welsh MPs press for action over toxic waste legacy exposed by Michael Sheen". Nation.Cymru. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  24. ↑ Riddle, Alex (19 June 2026). "Blink acquires The Last Witness from the creators of the award-winning Buried podcast". Bonnier Books. Retrieved 3 September 2026.
  25. ↑ ASHBY, DAN (10 September 2026). The Last Witness: One Man's Fight to Expose a Chemical Contamination Scandal, and the Conspiracy to Silence Him: From the Creators of the Award-Winning BBC Podcast, Buried. Blink Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78512-931-5.
  26. ↑ Gowan, Douglas (1972). Slurry and Farm Waste Disposal. Farming Press. ISBN 978-0-85236-021-7.
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