Dioxins may be in milk near foot and mouth pyres

25 May 2001

Farmers and local families have been warned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that increased levels of dioxins may be found in milk and milk products from farms close to foot and mouth pyres.

Friends of the Earth has warned of the dangers of dioxins being emitted by the railway sleepers, fuel and other materials used to burn animal carcasses. FOE has called for a public inquiry into why MAFF did not follow the Environment Agency's "hierarchy" of disposal, which gives rendering, burning in licensed incinerators and landfills as the safest methods of disposal, and burning on open pyres as one of the worst.

FOE research also showed that the vast majority of landfills declared as safe for the animals by the Agency were not used. Dioxins are a class of dangerous chemicals which accumulate in body fat. They are released during combustion processes. The World Health Organisation says that exposure could lead to cancers, learning difficulties, genital malformations and falling sperm counts. In 1998, the WHO set a safe daily level of one to four picogrammes per kilogramme of body weight per day. A picogramme is one millionth of a millionth of a gram.

The warning comes as a result of a risk assessment by the FSA which shows that dioxins from the pyres will be deposited on land within a two kilometre radius. The FSA is taking samples of milk, eggs, soil and grass from around pyres and will have results in around three weeks. It believes that there is at most a "small additional risk" to health from the pollution.

FOE advises parents with babies or young children to "play safe" by avoiding full-fat milk from the area and washing dirt off all vegetables thoroughly. FOE welcomed the FSA warning as a "sensible application of the precautionary principle", and welcomed the FSA's refusal to bow to inevitable political pressure from MAFF over the safety warning.

Friends of the Earth Executive Director Charles Secrett said: "Congratulations to the FSA for beginning to live up to its promise to be an independent food safety body. Today's announcement is yet more worrying news for farmers and families in foot and mouth areas. We need to know why MAFF did not follow the Environment Agency's recommendations on the safe disposal of animal carcasses. In the absence of a public inquiry, suspicions will grow that disposal methods may have been dictated more by the date of the Election than by concern for public health."

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