Mr. Alan W. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the current cost per animal of the incineration process for cattle diagnosed as suffering from BSE. [16243]
§ Mr. BaldryThe current costs of having cattle suspected of showing clinical signs of BSE incinerated in one of the nine plants currently contracted to the Department ranges from £105 to £135 per beast.
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what regulations govern the disposal to landfill of cattle carcases with specified bovine material removed. [16232]
§ Mr. BaldryThe landfilling of controlled waste is subject to the waste management licensing provisions of part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994. Waste management licences contain appropriate terms and conditions. Among other matters, these will specify the types and quantities of waste which may be disposed of the in each site. The Environment Agency is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the licensing system. Landfill site operators are also subject to the duty of care provisions in section 34 of the 1990 Act and the Environmental Protection (Duty of Care) Regulations 1991.
191WIt is relevant that all cattle suspected of displaying clinical signs of BSE are slaughtered and their carcase sent for direct incineration and that cattle slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme are either incinerated or rendered and destroyed.
The Animal By-Products Order 1992 and the Specified Bovine Material (No. 3) Order 1996 are also relevant.
Mr. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total amount of meat and bonemeal in storage from the over-30-months scheme; what is the cost of storage; and what plans he has for its disposal. [16195]
§ Mr. BaldryThe total amount of meat and bonemeal held in storage following the rendering of carcases under the over-30-months scheme was 168,100 tonnes as at 17 February 1997 and the cost to the Intervention Board executive agency is estimated to be about £60,000 per week.
The Government are actively pursuing a number of options for the disposal of meat and bonemeal arising from the OTMS. The Intervention Board recently agreed a contract with a high-temperature incineration company, ReChem, to burn MBM at its Fawley plant and has an exercise under way for further incineration facilities from which additional MBM disposal capacity is expected to emerge. Combustion trials have been carried out at PowerGen's test facilities at Ratcliffe on Soar, Nottinghamshire, and at National Power's test facilities at Didcot, Oxfordshire, to establish the feasibility of burning MBM in power stations. These trials have been monitored by the Environment Agency and the results will be placed on the public register. The test results are being fully evaluated, and full weight will be given to the protection of human health and of the environment before any decisions are reached.
Mr. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many carcases are in storage under the over-30-months scheme awaiting rendering and final disposal; and what is the current weekly cost of storage. [16245]
§ Mr. BaldryAs at 16 February 1997, the carcases of some 208,000 animals slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme were being held in cold storage awaiting disposal at an average cost of some £270,000 a week.
Mr. WilliamsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cattle carcases were incinerated in 1996. [16246]
§ Mr. BaldryA total of some 52,000 cattle were incinerated in 1996 by this Department or the Intervention Board executive agency, of which about 81 per cent. were animals purchased under the over-30-months scheme and about 19 per cent. BSE suspects.
§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will list for each county the number of carcases slaughtered as a result of the BSE crisis currently in cold storage and awaiting disposal; and if he will make a statement. [16528]
192W
§ Mr. BaldryAs at 16 February 1997, the number of carcases of animals slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme and held in cold storage by county is as follows:
County Carcases England Avon 10,100 Cambridgeshire 3,300 Devon 2,700 Greater Manchester 3,800 Hereford and Worcester 1,300 Humberside 7,900 Kent 34,200 Lancashire 7,100 Lincolnshire 27,400 London 1,400 Shropshire 8,600 South Yorkshire 2,700 Staffordshire 800 Tyneside 1,600 Total England 112,900 Wales Ynys 3,500 South Glamorgan 2,600 Newport, South Wales 3,900 Total Wales 10,000 Scotland Border Region 2,300 Dumfries and Galloway 9,100 Grampian Region 2,600 Highland Region 17,800 Strathclyde 2,700 Total Scotland 34,500 Northern Ireland County Armagh 27,000 County Down 8,600 County Fermanagh 5,800 County Tyrone 9,200 Total Northern Ireland 50,600 Total United Kingdom 208,000 Disposal of this material will be completed at a pace determined by control requirements and the availability of rendering and incineration capacity.
§ Mrs. JacksonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in which locations in the past 10 years(a) cattle infected with BSE, (b) rendered meat and bonemeal, (c) cattle carcases slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme, (d) specified bovine material and (e) ash from incinerated cattle, have been landfilled. [16847]
§ Mr. Baldry[holding answer 24 February 1997]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her on 11 February 1997, Official Report, columns 143–45.
§ Mrs. JacksonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make an assessment of the relative safety of(a) landfilling and (b) incineration as methods of disposal of cattle waste, under the BSE eradication schemes; and if he will make a statement. [16849]
193W
§ Mr. Baldry[holding answer 24 February 1997]: Cattle suspected of displaying clinical signs of BSE are disposed of by direct incineration in plants contracted to MAFF, which are subject to authorisation by the Environment Agency or relevant local authority under part I of the Environment Protection Act 1990. Cattle slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme are incinerated, or rendered and destroyed in accordance with the requirements of Commission regulation 716/96/EEC. Specified bovine material is also removed from cattle slaughtered for human consumption and consigned for rendering or direct incineration.
The independent Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee has considered the current and proposed methods of dealing with waste material from the slaughter of cattle, including landfill and incineration, and concluded that these are safe. A news release reporting its conclusions was issued by MAFF on 7 June 1996 and a copy is available in the Library.
§ Mrs. JacksonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what is the quantity of rendered meat and bonemeal presently stored in Britain under the BSE eradication programme; [16896]
(2) if he will list the tonnage of (a) cattle carcases, (b) rendered meat and bonemeal and (c) tallow by location of storage. [16898]
§ Mr. Baldry[holding answer 24 February 1997]: I have provided the information requested on the number of carcases in cold storage by location in the answer given to the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, North (Ms Walley) today.
Returns of meat and bonemeal and tallow delivered to store continue to be collated. However, as at 17 February 1997, these indicate that there were some 168,100 tonnes of rendered meat and bonemeal—130,600 tonnes Great Britain—and 101,800 tonnes of tallow in store in the UK from animals slaughtered under the over-30-months scheme, as is shown in the table:
County Meat and bonemeal (Tonnes) Tallow (Tonnes) England Devon 41,500 — Essex — 30,400 Lancashire 58,000 — Merseyside 5,500 71,400 Total England 105,000 101,800 Scotland Fife 4,000 — Midlothian 21,600 — Total Scotland 25,600 — Northern Ireland County Antrim 29,600 — County Tyrone 7,900 — Total Northern Ireland 37,500 — Total UK 168,100 101,800
§ Mrs. Helen JacksonTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the level194W of infective units (a) per gram and (b) per tonne, found in rendered meat and bonemeal under the BSE eradication programme. [16897]
§ Mr. Baldry[holding answer 24 February 1997]: No tests have been conducted to ascertain the level of infective units in the rendered meat and bonemeal produced under the over-30-months scheme. This is because the only way of achieving this would be to inject groups of mice with a number of samples of different dilutions of each sample to be tested. These tests would take two years and would be extremely expensive.
The independent Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee has concluded that there was no epidemiological evidence to suggest that the handling of MBM presented a risk to any of those engaged in the related trades. The Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens has also considered the health risks associated with the handling of MBM and has issued generic guidance for all occupational groups, including those involved in storage. The Intervention Board executive agency has drawn the guidelines to the attention of storekeepers storing MBM.