Foot-and-mouth 'cover-up' denied

Mr Brown denies that figures are being 'massaged'

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has denied that the Ministry of Agriculture is deliberately misleading the public about the true number of new outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease.

Some farmers have suggested that - in the run-up to the general election - information from Maff has been unreliable.

But Mr Brown said the number of new infected premises was coming down by about a half every fortnight - and rejected suggestions that the figures were being "massaged".

However, seven cases were confirmed on Saturday including one at Settle, in the Yorkshire dales, bringing the total number in the area to 20.

Foot-and-mouth facts

Total number of confirmed foot-and-mouth cases in the UK 1,647 - One new case on Saturday

3,052,000 animals slaughtered

63,000 animals awaiting slaughter

26,000 carcasses awaiting disposal

Livestock are being slaughtered at Lodge farm after the case was confirmed on Saturday.

Later, Maff officials were forced to apologise to a farmer after an embarrassing blunder by an army slaughter team who killed more than 400 healthy animals by mistake.

The soldiers were called to a farm in Otterburn, near Settle, to slaughter 280 condemned animals, but then visited neighbouring land where they destroyed 468 uninfected cattle and sheep.

Maff say the farmer will be fully compensated for the slaughtered animals.

Meanwhile, people living near a foot-and-mouth burial pit in County Durham have handed a petition to Maff officials calling for the permanent closure of the site.

Footpaths to open

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

Asked about the disease figures, Mr Brown told BBC News: "In my time as minister I have only given one instruction to civil servants about the statistics that we are collecting, and that was to put the figures into the public domain.

"They are compiled by independent civil servants and every single animal purchased by the government for disease control reasons is paid for, and the money has to be accounted for.

I absolutely refute the suggestion that civil servants are somehow fiddling the figures

Nick Brown
Agriculture Minister

"I absolutely refute the suggestion that civil servants are somehow fiddling the figures."

The official number of foot-and-mouth cases now stands at 1,647, although reports suggest the true number of infected farms 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 three million animals have been killed.

At Tow Law, in County Durham, about 300 protesters were met by a cordon of 30 police officers at the entrance to the pit, which is earmarked to take about 200,000 slaughtered animals.

Health hazards

Protest organiser Sylvia Goodhall said: "We will demonstrate for as long as it takes. The people of Tow Law and neighbouring villages will not tolerate this monstrosity on our doorstep."

A Maff spokesman said that "every effort" was being taken to minimise the impact of the site, adding: "We fully appreciate the concern of the people of Tow Law."

Milk from dozens of farms has been tested

The government has warned of other potential health hazards posed by the disposal of foot-and-mouth carcasses.

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 has 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.