The Agriculture Secretary, Nick Brown, announced last night that cattle less than five years old will also be buried. Yesterday Maff announced 51 more cases of foot and mouth on Friday, revealing that the rate of increase is not slowing down. The Government is now so concerned about the environmental issue it has launched an inquiry into the effects. The National Environmental Technology Centre has been asked to monitor the hundreds of pyres that have been filling the countryside with acrid smoke. Last week in its first report to Michael Meacher, the Environment Minister, the centre said there was evidence of dangerous levels of dioxins entering the atmosphere, particularly in the 3km radius around the fires.
Dioxins are among the most deadly pollutants.
At minute concentrations in the air they can cause cancer, changes in the the body's genetic make-up and fertility problems. More than 100 protesters yesterday blockaded an army firing range ear-marked for burning slaughtered animials in Sennybridge, Powys, mid Wales, a disease free area. They claimed burning increased the risk of spreading foot and mouth.