§ Mr. PikeTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what representations he has received from(a) local authorities and (b) other bodies regarding landfill sites in which BSE carcases have been disposed of since 1988; and if he will make a statement; [9180]
(2) what discussions he has had with (a) local authorities and (b) the Environment Agency with reference to (i) leachate and (ii) other problems in relation 23W to landfill sites in which BSE carcases have been disposed of since 1988; what plans he has to conduct further checks on all sites; and if he will make a statement. [9181]
§ Mr. RookerThis Department has received a number of letters, including from local authorities, about the licensed landfill sites in which the carcases of cattle suspected of being affected with BSE—heads previously removed for diagnosis and subsequent incineration—were disposed of between 1988 and 1991. No BSE suspects have been disposed of by landfilling since 1991 when sufficient carcase incineration capacity came on stream to process the number of cases that were coming forward.
The Environment Agency has responsibility for the supervision of landfill sites in England and Wales which are licensed under part II of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The objective of the licensing system is to ensure that waste is disposed of without harming the environment or human health. In fulfilment of its supervisory role, the Environment Agency has carried out a qualitative assessment of all the landfill sites that took BSE suspects, taking into account the number of carcases buried, the degree of containment and the proximity of water sources. On the basis of those findings, it then carried out a further, more detailed quantitative assessment of a selection of sites which were judged to be typical of those sites judged to be most vulnerable.
The study calculations show that the likelihood of the most exposed individual ingesting, in one year, sufficient material to cause infection as a result of the landfilling that took place ranges from one in 1 million years to one in 10,000 million years, depending on local circumstances. In reality, however, the risk to the general public in each case will be well below the level of risk to the most exposed person. The agency believes that the risks assessed for the six sites studied in the quantitative assessments should be representative of the full range of risks posed by all 59 sites. A list of these was sent to each of the relevant Members of Parliament.
The results of the Environment Agency's landfill risk assessment were published by the agency at a press conference on 25 June. Copies of this, and related risk assessments, are available in the Library of the House.