Health checks in farm virus areas

Air near animal pyres is being tested

Risks to human health from the foot-and-mouth outbreak are to be monitored under a new government programme.

Tests for contamination to air, water supplies and food will be carried out to see whether attempts to control the disease are themselves causing public health problems.

The initiative follows recent reports that smoke from giant pyres of slaughtered animals may have resulted in cancer-causing dioxins ending up in local milk supplies.

There have also been fears that around 40 cows infected with BSE may have been buried at any one of 50 sites around the country.

Foot-and-mouth facts

Total cases in UK: 1,676

11 new cases on Thursday

3,125,000 animals slaughtered

58,000 animals awaiting slaughter

26,000 carcasses awaiting disposal

The programme is described by the Department of Health as a precautionary measure.

"Any potential problems will be detected at the earliest possible stage and dealt with promptly," it said.

Officials will also investigate any sickness thought to be related to carcass disposal.

The monitoring is being carried out by a range of government agencies, some of which have already been carrying out tests.

Officials from the Department of the Environment have already tested air quality at huge pyres of slaughtered animals in Okehampton and Holsworthy in Devon.

And the Food Standards Agency is testing for dioxins in food near various pyres, including ones in Sennybridge and Anglesey, in Wales.

Carcasses are a potential risk to water supplies

The agencies will report on their findings once a month. The initiative will last "for some considerable time after the last outbreak of foot-and-mouth is recorded".

The announcement follows a day of bad news concerning the disease.

Farmers in North Yorkshire were told their temporary licences to move livestock were being revoked, as four new cases of the disease were recorded in the area.

The cases were found around Settle and Clitheroe, where a fresh cluster of cases has sprung up in recent weeks.

Two other fresh outbreaks were confirmed in Cumbria and another in Cleveland.

The total number of new cases on Thursday rose to 11.