Controversy over the deaths of hundreds of farm animals and horses in the Shannon estuary is to resurface with publication next month of research suggesting the deaths resulted from excessive aluminium in their body tissue.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Agriculture said yesterday they would closely examine the findings but stressed their own extensive studies of animals in the area had not found aluminium deposits to be above normal levels.
The latest research - conducted by the Irish Equine Centre (IEC) in Co Kildare, with an input from prominent toxicologists in the US and Australia - suggests high aluminium levels may have arisen in the tissue of horses on the farm of Doris and Andy Sheehy at Askeaton, Co Limerick, due to high acidity linked to sulphur dioxide in the local environment, according to a report in the Sunday Business Post.
The main source of sulphur dioxide in the area has been from industry, notably the giant Aughinish Alumina plant, which makes alumina - an aluminium compound - from bauxite, and two ESB power stations at Moneypoint and Tarbert. Extensive research over many years has shown no link between any of these facilities and the animal deaths. The plants have made large investments in curtailing these discharges in recent years.
The suggested link, which is to be published in the journal Veterinary and Human Toxicology, contrasts sharply with research conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture, who have concentrated their investigations on cattle deaths stretching back to 1988 at two farms near the Sheehys - no definitive cause has been found, though the EPA has suggested that whatever caused the deaths is no longer a threat.
The IEC study's co-authors include Dr Daniel Perl of Mount Sinai Medical Centre, New York, and Prof Alan Seawright of the University of Queensland. It is believed to suggest acidity in the atmosphere was a factor in the uptake of normally inert aluminium by the horses. It is reported to note that a condition known as granulomatous pneumonia in horses can be caused in some circumstances by inhaled bauxite.
The EPA's spokeswoman said the agency would not comment in detail until it had seen the research paper. In the past the Sheehys had refused to release details of IEC research on their horses, she said. In 1995, they were part of the initial State investigation but declined to take part in follow-up studies.
At a public hearing on the proposed granting of an integrated pollution control licence for Aughinish Alumina last year the family submitted some brief details on the horse deaths. "Whatever information they gave was not sufficient to cause any concern to the EPA." She confirmed that EPA/Department of the Environment investigations had found "no evidence of aluminium deposits above and beyond normal".
The Department's spokesman said it would consider the IEC research once it was published. It pointed out, however, that a previous study submitted by another agency showed high levels of aluminium in cattle tissue. When repeat tests were carried out this trend was not confirmed, he said. Equally, acid rain and sulphur dioxide had never been shown to be factors in the deaths. Tissue samples on repeated testing had not indicated excessive aluminium, he reiterated.
When reports of IEC research on the Sheehy horses emerged in June 1997, the centre declined to outline details to The Irish Times. It is understood that the EPA made repeated efforts to get details from the Sheehys, but failed.
