SIGNIFICANT SHORTS : Cancer cluster not linked to water pollution

Contamination of drinking water at Camelford in Cornwall eight years ago is not to blame for three cases of leukaemia in a single class at a local school, public health experts said yesterday.

An investigation by a team of cancer specialists has concluded that while there is no evidence of a link, they will keep the "cluster" of cases under review. They also dismissed a link with overhead power cables, and said preliminary measurements of radon-gas levels at Sir John Smith's Secondary School, gave no cause for concern. The pollution happened in July 1988, when water supplies to 20,000 people were affected by 20 tons of aluminium sulphate at a treatment works. Liz Hunt