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 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.