BSErisks prompt F&M policy rethink
BSErisks prompt F&M policy rethink
By Alistair Driver
GOVERNMENT policy on disposing of foot-and-mouth cattle carcasses could be reviewed.
A working group of Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee members met on Thursday (May 22) to discuss how F&M control measures could expose humans to BSE.
The major concern is over the burning and burying of cattle over 30 months old that have been culled because of F&M.
Burning older cattle has raised fears that BSE-infected material could spread on the wind. Burying them could contaminate the water supply, it is feared.
Speaking before the meeting, SEAC member Peter Janion said: "Both questions will be looked at to see what the level of risk is, if any."
Mr Janion, British Veterinary Association vice-president, said the working group would review risk assessment work done since the beginning of the F&M crisis. It will then update the government about whether it needs to change its policy.
SEAC has already advised that cattle should not be buried if they were born after Aug 1, 1996, when new BSE controls came in. Over 100,000 cattle have been buried or put in landfill so far and some older animals have had to be exhumed, a MAFF spokeswoman admitted.
SEAC was due to examine what to do with ash left on the ground. The Environment Agency prefers to bury ash from burnt carcasses on the site of the pyre. But a lot of piles have still not been buried. In the Torridge area of Devon alone, regional Environment Agency officials admit there are still about 40 unburied piles.
A South West agency spokesman said the situation will be reassessed after the SEAC meeting.
South West NFU director, Anthony Gibson, said fears over the risk of BSE spreading from slaughtered cattle were ridiculous. *