BBC

Fears over disposal of carcasses

More than 500,000 carcasses burnt in the first six weeks Concerns are being voiced about the effect on the environment of both burning and burial of animals slaughtered in the foot-and-mouth cull.

The Department of Health has decided to dismantle a pyre of approximately 750 sheep and cows in Cumbria and bury the carcasses instead because it is close to a residential area.

But a huge pyre for 7,000 animals has been lit in Holsworthy, north Devon after a compromise was reached with local residents.

Fears have also been raised by a report in a Sunday newspaper which said a study by the National Environmental Technology Centre showed pyres used for incineration were emitting high levels of toxic dioxins.

In a move to reassure the public, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said public health was "uppermost" in the government's mind and added no reckless action would have been taken to tackle the disease.

Last weekend saw protests from north Devon residents who feared they would have to be evacuated if the wind changed during the burning of the Holsworthy pyre.

But after meetings with the Ministry of Agriculture (Maff) it was decided the pyre at Holsworthy in north Devon would only be lit twice instead of allowing it to burn continuously for several weeks.

Approximately 12 more pyres in Cumbria are burning or smouldering and there will be no more built until the Department of Health reaches a decision on the danger caused by burning carcasses.

A MAFF spokesman said: "We are awaiting further instruction from the Department of Health on, if and how, it is safe to continue."

North Cumbria Health Authority asked the government last week to stop burning until the Department of Health reached a decision.

Carcinogenic

A pyre at Hazel Springs was lit on Wednesday because it was further away from inhabited areas.

"Langrigg is closer to inhabited areas and, again in consultation with the Health Authority, we decided to dismantle it and bury the carcasses instead," said the Maff spokesman.

The government has denied that the burning of carcasses is causing major pollution.

But the NETC study, reported in the Independent on Sunday, found that, in the first six weeks of the crisis, the burning of 500,000 animals had released 63g of dioxins - toxic by-products of combustion which are believed to be carcinogenic.

This compares to the 88g released into the atmosphere each year by all of Britain's most polluting factories combined.

Pressure group Friends of the Earth has called for the burning to be stopped immediately.

But Mr Hoon told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost that reports from another environmental monitoring agency found the pollution was "the equivalent of two Bonfire Nights".

Mr Hoon continued: "Public health is always uppermost in our minds and we will not take actions that will jeopardise public health, but there are no risk-free options.

Devon burials

"We have to use burning, particularly for old cattle, as a means of disposal."

But he conceded that, in Devon, animal carcasses had been left rotting in the open air because of difficulties finding means of disposing of them, and insisted that officials were working "round the clock" to provide a mass burial site.

But health fears surrounding the burial of carcasses have also been growing, particularly in Devon.

Protesters who attended a meeting in the village of Petrockstowe said decomposing carcasses due to be buried at nearby Ashmoor Pit in would contaminate the surrounding land for years.

But the government has ordered that the burial of 400,000 carcasses should proceed at the site.

A fourth case of the disease has been confirmed in Northern Ireland, and nine more cases across the rest of the UK, bringing the national total to 1,439.

One of the latest outbreaks is half-a-mile from the home of Conservative Leader William Hague, on a farm in Catterick, North Yorkshire.

-- Anonymous, April 22, 2001

Answers

Foot and mouth virus spreads to wild deer

The foot and mouth virus has passed into Britain's wild deer population, making the Government's policy of mass slaughter of farmyard livestock futile.

There have been several cases of vets clinically identifying the disease in wild deer, some of which have died from it. There have also been many reports from Devon, Cumbria and Northumberland of deer limping and exhibiting other unusual behaviour linked to the disease.

Veterinary experts say it is impossible to vaccinate or cull wild deer and once infected they will act as a reservoir for the virus, repeatedly re-infecting livestock. It will make it almost imposs-ible for Britain to rid itself of the virus, until it dies out naturally in wild deer, which could take years.

http://www.observer.co.uk/Distribution/Redirect_Artifact/0,4678,0- 476587,00.html

-- Anonymous, April 23, 2001