Egg alert after toxic ash scare

As from the incinerator was spread over 40 allotments

Health warnings have been issued to allotment gardeners in Newcastle in the wake of a cancer scare involving contaminated incinerator ash.

They have been told not to eat eggs from hens kept on allotments, before contaminated ash was removed.

Health officials say there is no major risk and the move is a precautionary measure.

It follows research into the levels of cancer-causing dioxins, after 2,000 tons of toxic ash from Byker incinerator was used for footpaths over a four year period.

In January 2002 the council was fined £25,000, after admitting spreading the ash, produced from household waste, on more than 40 allotments.

Now, research by Newcastle University has shown eggs produced by hens exposed to the ash, contained around four times more dioxins than limits imposed by the European Commission (EC).

City health officials have written to everyone known to keep hens, advising them not to eat eggs from poultry present before the contaminated ash was removed.

We are issuing advice purely in relation to eggs produced by chickens kept on allotments Stephen Savage, Newcastle City Council

Dr Tanja Pless-Mulloli from Newcastle University tested 98 eggs, produced by hens which spent the majority of their time roaming in allotments across the city.

She found 74% contained higher levels of dioxins than permitted under EC regulations for commercially-traded eggs.

But she concluded the hens pick up dioxins from the soil and that high levels were linked to previous industrial uses, industrial emissions and bonfires.

Stephen Savage, Newcastle's head of public health and environmental protection said: "To our knowledge, the information collected regarding dioxins in free-range allotment poultry in Newcastle is unique in the UK and, therefore, at the leading edge of scientific knowledge.

"The report has raised new issues, but we feel we have taken them as far as we can.

"It is now up to national agencies, particularly the Food Standards Agency (FSA), to take them further.

"We do not know all the reasons why dioxin levels vary so much, but feel that making our findings public and issuing precautionary advice is the right thing to do.

"We are issuing advice purely in relation to eggs produced by chickens kept on allotments, as they spend a lot more time outside and eating from the ground than commercially-produced birds and eggs known as free range."