Christopher Exley is an English chemist known for his research on the health effects of

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

exposure. He was Professor of Bioinorganic Chemistry and group leader of the Bioinorganic Chemistry Laboratory at

Keele University Keele University is a Public university#United Kingdom, public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, it was granted uni ...

. He published the research finding that Carole Cross, a woman who died from aluminium poisoning as a result of the 1988

Camelford water pollution incident The Camelford water pollution incident involved the accidental contamination of the drinking water supply to the town of Camelford, Cornwall, in July 1988. Twenty tonnes of aluminium sulphate was inadvertently added to the water supply, raisin ...

, had brain levels of aluminium over twenty times higher than normal. In 2012, he testified in an inquest into Cross's death in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He asserted that if victims of the poisoning consumed

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. It is usually still, but may be sparkling ( carbonated/ effervescent). Traditionally, mineral waters were used or consumed at t ...

that contains high levels of

silicic acid In chemistry, a silicic acid () is any chemical compound containing the element silicon attached to oxide () and hydroxyl () groups, with the general formula or, equivalently, . Orthosilicic acid is a representative example. Silicic acids are ra ...

, even if they did so twenty-four years after the initial poisoning, it could help to remove the aluminium from their brains. He also criticized the government for advising residents of

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

to boil their water shortly after the incident, referring to this advice he told the inquest: "The advice given at the time was the worst possible advice to give. Boiling the water would have tripled the concentration of aluminium. It was absolutely terrible advice. I don't think anyone was given any good advice, it is utterly beyond belief and it cannot be acceptable." While some were affected, possibly fatally in one case, and advice at the time was agreed to have been incorrect, it is unlikely that there was any long-term effect from the Camelford incident. In September 2013 the government admitted that there had been a "manifest failure to give prompt appropriate advice and information to affected consumers" and offered an unreserved apology. More recently he has become known for research claiming to link aluminium adjuvants in vaccines with autism. This work, some of which was paid for by unacknowledged donations from anti-vaccine group Children's Medical Safety Research Institute and some of which has subsequently been retracted, has led to him losing research funding. However, in February 2021, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reported that during the COVID-19 pandemic Exley had received over £150,000 to support his research through Keele University's donations portal. There is no evidence of any link, causal or otherwise, between

vaccines and autism Extensive investigation into vaccines and autism spectrum disorder has shown that there is no relationship between the two, causal or otherwise, and that vaccine ingredients do not cause autism. The American scientist Peter Hotez researched the ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Exley, Christopher Living people English biochemists British inorganic chemists Academics of Keele University Royal Society University Research Fellows Alumni of the University of Stirling Year of birth missing (living people)