WSJ article on mad cow remains in England.
January 8, 2001
In Battling Mad Cow, Britain
Spawns Heaps of Pulverized Cattle
By STEVE STECKLOW
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
BLYTON, England -- Inside a prefab barn overlooking this rustic village lie the
leftovers of Europe's mad-cow crisis: a huge mound of pulverized cattle.
The building is one of 15 such waste sites scattered around the United
Kingdom. At the moment, they hold 450,500 tons of cattle remains, ground up
and dried into a brown sawdust-like powder known as meat-and-bone meal.
In an effort to stem the spread of the brain-wasting disease that has infected
more than 177,000 British cattle and has been linked to more than 80 human
deaths, Britain has been killing cows on a massive scale. Since 1996, when
scientists first realized that the cattle illness apparently had jumped the species
barrier to humans, 4.75 million older cows -- those deemed most at risk of
harboring the disease -- have gone to the slaughterhouse and been converted
into meal.
The material is supposed to be burned, and the
ashes buried in landfills. But Britain's incinerators
can't keep up. Each week, between 20,000 and
30,000 older cows continue to be culled and
rendered and their powdery remains hauled in flatbed trucks to the meal heaps.
Officials expect it to be three more years before Britain's burners finally catch
up with the backlog, and even then, the slaughter will continue.
"There is no exit policy for this scheme at present," says David Younger, who
oversees the government program.
Yet Britain's cattle-destruction program, which already has cost $4 billion, may
prove modest compared with what's probably in store for the rest of Europe.
Responding to consumer panic over rising numbers of diseased cattle on the
Continent, European Union officials decided on Dec. 4 to ban the use of
meat-and-bone meal, which until recently was fed to pigs and poultry.
The British stopped this practice four years ago, fearing that the meal might
accidentally get mixed with cattle feed and, if contaminated with the disease
agent, continue spreading the illness among cows. Indeed, it was Britain's
previous practice of feeding the meal directly to cattle that is believed to have
caused the epidemic in the first place.
The EU also declared that older cattle must be destroyed unless they have been
tested and shown to be free of the disease, called bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, or BSE. If these measures are extended beyond an initial
six-month trial period, as many expect, that would require the destruction of at
least three million tons of meal a year -- or more than six times Britain's annual
production.
European officials already are warning that they lack the incineration capacity
to handle the mountains of meal, and that it could take as long as two years to
construct the necessary facilities. "We are desperately looking for storage
space and ways to process the product," says Christian Mieles of the Meat
Meal Association in Bonn.
Just last week, Spanish authorities said the remains of about 100 cows that
died in accidents or of natural causes have been placed in a disused quartz strip
mine and covered with quicklime just outside Lanza in the Galicia region
because of a shortage of incinerators. Galicia officials said the dumping
operation began Saturday and would continue for a few more days, despite an
uproar from worried local residents.
Tragic Ends
Europe's carcass glut is only one of the far-reaching and often tragic
consequences of Europe's mad-cow epidemic: Farmers have lost their herds.
Consumers in France and Germany have boycotted butchers. Families of the
more than 80 victims in Britain have watched their loved ones succumb to an
incurable illness that can lie dormant for years, then suddenly begin turning the
brain into sponge, killing within 14 months of the onset of symptoms. Even in
the U.S., which has had no reported cases of either the cattle or human variety
of the disease, people who have spent at least six months in Britain since 1980
aren't allowed to donate blood.
BSE in Europe
Number of cases of BSE detected in cattle in Europe, through 2000
Britain
179,216
Ireland
540
Portugal
473
Switzerland
364
France
231
Belgium
18
Germany
7
Netherlands
6
Spain
2
Denmark
1
Italy
0
Note: Figures for Germany, France, Belgium and Spain run through 2000; figures for other
countries run through mid-November.
Source: European Union
Among the lesser-known effects of the crisis is the emergence of an entirely
new industry dedicated to eliminating cattle waste. In Britain, it is known as the
"Over Thirty Months Scheme." The name refers to the fact that under the
government's program, all cattle over the age of 30 months must be kept out of
the food chain. That's because cattle usually don't display symptoms of
mad-cow disease -- such as a staggering walk and disorientation -- until they
are at least 60 months old, and scientists believe that the risk of transmission
from cattle under 30 months old to be very low.
The program was announced in April 1996, following the first reported deaths
from the so-called human form of mad-cow disease, itself a variation of a
related brain malady in humans called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. But the British
quickly learned that destroying millions of cows is no simple task. For starters,
there's the issue of compensation. Under rates set by the European
Commission in Brussels, British farmers are given subsidies of about $450, or
roughly the market rate, for each animal that is destroyed. To date, those
subsidies have totaled more than $2 billion -- the bulk of that amount paid by
the EU -- and have required nearly 300 British government employees to handle
the payments.
Then there are the mechanics of the mass slaughter. In Britain, any cow that
shows signs of BSE is destroyed at once. As for the rest, the vast majority of
healthy cows intended for human consumption are slaughtered at between 15
and 20 months of age. Normally, older cattle, which include dairy cows that
are usually milked for seven or eight years, would go to special
slaughterhouses, which turn them into lesser cuts, like processed meat and
hamburgers. But since 1996, any animal over 30 months must be destroyed,
though farmers have some leeway to wait until the animals finish their useful
life on the farm. "The guillotine doesn't drop at 30 months and one day," says
Hilary Carruthers, deputy group manager of the program.
Farmers send the older animals to one of 21 authorized slaughterhouses, which
are monitored by government inspectors. There, the carcasses are slashed and
stained blue and yellow to discourage illegal diversion to meat markets, placed
on pallets and trucked to one of five rendering plants under government
contract.
Normally, renderers make meal out of the spine, head and other inedible parts
-- about 40% of the animal. But under the program, the entire carcass is
crushed and dried, and then undergoes a separation process to divide the
protein material from the fat, or tallow, which comprises about 12% of a
carcass's weight and is normally used to make soap, candle wax and other
products. The tallow is poured into containers and trucked to three special
storage sites to await incineration, while the much bulkier meal is sent to 15
other storage sites.
"You wouldn't recognize it as part of the animal," says Alan Lawrence,
secretary of the U.K. Renderers' Association. "It just looks like a powdery
material."
Lost Opportunities
How European countries ignored warning signs on BSE, or mad-cow disease
1996:
Link between BSE and human brain disease established in Britain
1997:
Prionics AG of Switzerland develops first efficient test kit
1998:
January: Switzerland starts widespread testing program; number of BSE cases there
immediately doubles
April: EU countries agree to start random testing for BSE, but follow-up inspections by
European Commission show major flaws in testing program
1999:
March: European Commission issues draft report warning that BSE has likely spread from
Britain. Other EU countries attack report and delay publication.
2000:
February: Denmark discovers its first case of BSE, one month after starting a widespread
testing program
June: France steps up testing; its number of BSE cases surges
August: European Commission finally publishes report on risk of spread of BSE
November: German private lab discovers country's first case of BSE; government orders
widespread testing, and six more cases are quickly discovered
November: Spain discovers first cases of BSE
November: EU countries agree on a massive testing program of all sick and older animals
Many people who live near the storage sites remain fearful of the powder. In
Blyton, a rural village in the East Midlands where about 8,000 tons of meal are
being stored at the site of what once was a World War II airfield, protest signs
declaring "No BSE Waste" are posted alongside roads leading to the facility.
Residents tried but failed to get a court injunction to block the waste. Now, in
what has become a weekly ritual, townspeople form a picket line at the
driveway of the storage facility and photograph and film delivery trucks as they
arrive from Scotland. The residents are looking for evidence of sloppy handling
to be used in further court action.
"The concern is there is no real hard scientific evidence that can actually prove
whether this stuff is dangerous or not," says Denise Chaston, a local
mental-health nurse, adding, "This is a thriving village -- we've got a lot of
youngsters here."
The company that stores the material, PH Europe Ltd., insists the meal is safe.
"We are satisfied that the material we store at the site does not present any
risk," says Jack Cleghorn, sales and marketing manager. But Mr. Younger,
group manager of the government program, doesn't go that far. "It would be
foolish to try to pretend that none of the animals entering the scheme couldn't
be harboring the disease subclinically," he says. "But all of our estimates point
to the likelihood of that being a tiny percentage."
Local residents also are miffed that the government, under an emergency
exemption, has allowed PH Europe and other storage-facility operators to store
the meal without a license to handle mammalian protein; the companies have a
full year to obtain one. Mr. Younger says the government had no choice, given
the growing quantities of meal. "We have to put it somewhere," he says, adding
that the facilities still must comply with strict standards. He also says that
simply killing the cows and burying their carcasses in landfills was out of the
question because of the sheer numbers. "Could you imagine what kind of
picture that would have been?" he asks.
Residents who live near the storage sites haven't been heartened by several
accidents that have occurred in connection with the waste program. In one
case about two years ago, a truck carrying tons of meal near the Scottish
border crashed and spilled its cargo onto the road. In another incident, a pile of
meal at a storage facility self-ignited, although it eventually burned itself out.
Mr. Younger says the fire prompted heightened safety precautions at all waste
sites. "Let's just say they are now more carefully temperature monitored," he
says.
Subsidized Cremators
The British government wouldn't need such storage sites if it had adequate
incineration capacity. But in 1996, the only facilities available for meal were
"animal cremators," which already were handling thousands of diseased cows.
In fact, until last year, only one incinerator in the country was available to burn
meat-and-bone meal, and it could handle only 15,000 tons a year. So the
government had to subsidize the construction of two new facilities. It also
helped pay to convert a power generator -- originally designed to use poultry
manure as fuel -- so that it could burn meal.
"This is the first year we've been able to do large-scale incineration," says Mr.
Younger, noting that four incinerators are now operating. A fifth is scheduled
to go online in April.
In recent weeks, Mr. Younger's office has been fielding calls from government
workers in other European countries, inquiring about Britain's cattle-destruction
program. EU officials, who anticipate spending at least $2.9 billion a year to
incinerate meal, are hoping to use some of the material as fuel for cement
plants and power stations. The French say they have 30 cement plants that
potentially could handle half of the country's meat-and-bone meal.
Tests also are under way in Germany. "We never thought of using the stuff
before because it was animal feed and quite expensive," compared with more
conventional fuels, says Peter Lukas, manager of a Heidelberger Zement plant
in Mainz, Germany. The company is trying to determine whether its ovens can
handle the meal and whether the fumes pose any health risks to workers.
Meanwhile, RWE AG, a German energy company, is testing whether the meal
can be used in coal plants. Like Heidelberger Zement, RWE would like to know
how much the government plans to pay it to burn the material. "We are not a
charitable organization," says Stephanie Schunck, a spokeswoman for RWE
Power, the company's energy-generating unit.
"The processing creates costs, logistical challenges and a reprogramming of
our equipment to make the whole thing possible in the first place."
-- David Woodruff in Paris, Cecilie Rohwedder in Berlin and Philip Shishkin
in Brussels contributed to this article.
Write to Steve Stecklow at steve.stecklow@wsj.com
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