Protest over carcass burial site

Villagers say the site poses health risks

People living near a foot-and-mouth burial pit are stepping up their protest over possible health risks from the site.

Residents of Tow Law, County Durham, are worried about toxins escaping from the Inkerman site, which is close to two primary schools.

Their concerns come at a time when government officials have warned of other potential health hazards posed by the disposal of foot-and-mouth carcasses.

Meanwhile, local authorities in England are hoping to re-open most footpaths outside of foot-and-mouth protection zones over the bank holiday weekend.

The National Trust also says the public will be able to gain access to nearly 500 of its sites, which have been shut until now.

Foot-and-mouth facts

Total number of confirmed foot-and-mouth cases in the UK 1,640 - One new case on Friday

3,030,000 animals slaughtered

73,000 animals awaiting slaughter

15,000 carcasses awaiting disposal

The Food Standards Authority said on Friday that whole milk could possibly become contaminated with cancer-causing dioxins from pyres of slaughtered animals.

And a leading scientist warned there may be a danger of BSE getting into water supplies in areas surrounding foot-and-mouth burial sites.

The risks of either of these eventualities is extremely slight, scientists say, but the news will have done little to allay health fears.

The Tow Law site is situated above 78 mine shafts, many of them filled with water.

At Saturday afternoon's protest, demonstrators will hand a petition to a Ministry of Agriculture (Maff) representative, demanding the pit be closed.

'Hidden' cases

The official number of foot-and-mouth cases now stands at 1,640 although according to reports the true number of farms infected with the virus is almost double this figure.

The Daily Telegraph says about 1,500 more cases exist among animals slaughtered as part of contiguous culls or "dangerous contacts".

This, the paper quotes Maff as saying, is a "significant" number which justifies the scale of the cull in which more than 3 million animals have been killed.

On Friday, Professor Peter Smith, a government advisor on BSE and vCJD, raised fears that if cattle older than five years were buried, BSE may enter drinking water.

He said that the risk of the transmission of the disease to humans could be increased dramatically - to one in 200,000 - if contaminated water was drunk.

The Food Standards Agency is continuing to test milk from farms after fears that dioxins released by the burning animals could re-enter the food chain.

Dioxin hazards

However, it has stressed that bulk-bought milk such as that sold by supermarkets and dairies carries no additional risk to consumers.

High exposures to chemicals in the dioxin family have been associated with a variety of health problems, such as cancer, lowered sperm counts, behavioural problems and diabetes.

The chemicals are produced by many industrial processes which involve burning, and are even released in car exhaust fumes.

This affects only a very small number of people

John Krebbs, Food Standards Agency

In this case, it is suspected that the dioxins could have been released by the pyre, absorbed into grass, consumed by the cows in fields close by the pyres, then passed out in milk.

The agency began testing milk at farms close to the foot-and-mouth pyres, which experts warned could be releasing contamination into the surrounding countryside.

Although final results have not yet been published, initial conclusions suggested elevated levels in farms within two kilometres of the pyres, which could lead to a slight increase in the "lifetime exposure" of drinkers to dioxins.

John Krebbs, director of the Food Standards Agency, said there was no reason for widespread concern.

"This affects only a very small number of people," he said.

"We are very clear that people have the right to know what we know, when we know it."

He said that the risk would only be confirmed by the results of more tests, to be completed within the next couple of weeks, and advised anyone worried about dioxins to drink semi-skimmed or skimmed milks, or dilute their untreated farm milk with supermarket or dairy milk.