I n Toxic Town, a drama out now on Netflix, poisonous dust in the air causes children to be born with missing limbs and other physical abnormalities. The alarming story is based on a real incident, when people in the English town of Corby inhaled toxic dust that was later linked to birth defects in a cluster of children.

Netflix’s Toxic Town is a new limited series based on the true story of Corby, England, where women residents unknowingly inhaled toxic dust in the air during their pregnancies, leading to physical abnormalities in their children.

In the the 80s and 90s, the rates of babies born with limb differences in the Corby area was found to be almost three times higher than those of children born in the surrounding area