Foot-and-Mouth Pyres May Spread Mad Cow

Britain’s blazing foot and mouth funeral pyres risk giving people the human form of Mad Cow Disease, the British government admitted.

The carcasses of animals found to have hoof and mouth disease are being burned in order to stop the spread of the disease to other livestock. However, there is a risk that the smoke from these fires may spread the prion that causes both BSE and CJD and that these prions may also get into the water supplies. There is also the risk that E.coli and salmonella could be released.

Joyce Quin, an agriculture minister, has admitted that there was a possibility that “small numbers” of the cattle “may be in the pre-clinical stage of BSE and may harbor some of the BSE agent.”

So far, the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Foods has not consulted local health officials about the safest places to put the pyres to avoid health risks.

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