Douglas Gowan

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 in 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]

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.[6][7]

His work formed the basis of the BBC Radio 4 series Buried: The Last Witness, first broadcast in June 2024.[8][9] Following the podcast's success,[10][11][12] BBC Factual and BBC Cymru Wales commissioned a two-part investigative documentary series titled Buried (working title), hosted by Michael Sheen, to bring Gowan's findings to a wider audience.[13][14]

Bibliography

Gowan, Douglas (1972). Slurry and Farm Waste Disposal. Farming Press. ISBN 0-852-36021-5, 978-0-85236-021-7[15]

Notes

  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

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b "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. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "Actor Michael Sheen slams Monsanto for causing pollution in Wales". www.gmwatch.org. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  8. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Buried, The Last Witness". BBC. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Davies, Hannah J. (24 December 2024). "The 20 best podcasts of 2024". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  11. ^ "UK documentary wins top prize at 2025 New York Radio Awards". RadioToday. 23 May 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  12. ^ Ferrara, Danilo (27 September 2025). "Tutti i vincitori dei DIG Awards 2025". DIG Festival (in Italian). Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  13. ^ "BBC announces new Factual series with Michael Sheen". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  14. ^ "Michael Sheen to front documentary on chemical contamination in South Wales | Royal Television Society". rts.org.uk. 26 January 2026. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  15. ^ Gowan, Douglas (1972). Slurry and Farm Waste Disposal. Farming Press. ISBN 978-0-85236-021-7.


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