A Cheann Comhairle, ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leat as an cheist thábhachtach seo a ardú anseo. I am particularly grateful to you as I now have facts at my disposal which I did not, regrettably, on 29 November 2000 when I last spoke in the House on the BSE crisis. At that time I said that the veterinary and hospital body parts incineration was essential to kill disease and that incineration is needed in the case of BSE. I have since discovered research which indicates that is wrong and that incineration is not an effective way to kill BSE and such diseases, nor is it the only way to kill the infective agent.
Regarding the effectiveness of incineration, the UK Government and environment agency have since learned from trials by Powergen and National Power in two power stations that BSE strands survive at temperatures of 1,500º centigrade. Professor Richard Lacey, professor of medical microbiology in Leeds University, also has evidence that the BSE infective agent is incredibly resistant to high temperatures. Professor Gareth Jones of Cambridge University cites evidence that with the high moisture content of tonnes of carcases being incinerated, the agent that leads to BSE and variant CJD could enter the atmosphere.
The BSE inquiry report in the UK, volume 6, chapter 10, section 10.105, gave rise to Dr. Hunter, former deputy director of the UK Agriculture and Food Research Council, saying that the scrapie agent is exceptionally heat resistant also and a large proportion would simply depart with the smoke and gases generated by the incineration. He conceives of few better techniques for distributing the agent far and wide over the countryside. Dr. Conchur Ó Bradaigh, an engineering lecturer at NUI, Galway, cited a study by the National Academy of Science in the US in March 2000 which stated that scrapie could survive 600º centigrade in an article in The Irish Times on 9 January.
I also know now that other less expensive and more effective technologies exist to kill the BSE infective agent and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development has also met scientists and developers in the interim to discuss such technologies independently. One such technology, alkaline hydrolysis, has been in operation in the USA successfully treating hospital and university animal and human pathogens and other such infective waste for the past eight years, with no problems as yet. This technology would involve digesting BSE infected carcases in an alkaline solution to break down the BSE protein at a temperature of 150º centigrade for three hours. The mechanism involves weighing the carcases in a basket prior to immersion to calculate the conditions and correct quantity of solution needed and once the animal waste is processed and deemed BSE free it can be discharged to be anaerobically digested, as happens with pig slurry or other such BOD rich matter even on more progressive farms in Ireland.
The advantages of alkaline hydrolysis are it is cheaper than incineration, an important consideration according to the Minister, it is more effective in that it is easier to guarantee than the incomplete combustion sometimes experienced by incineration and it is also more controllable taking account of power cuts or other eventualities whereby the process can be started again with out the problems that would be caused to the incineration process.
I appeal to the Minister and the Minister of State, who is representing him, to be open to the research and to impress on the European Commission that there are alternatives to incineration in regard to dealing with BSE. According to today's edition of The Guardian, the goalposts are shifting in our understanding of BSE and that must be acknowledged. We must keep up to date in this regard. I had hoped in November 2000 that the Minister, Deputy Walsh, would not adopt the role of a trojan horse, town crier for the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, in pushing a case for general municipal incineration, but sadly in the interim that is what Deputy Walsh has been doing.
As Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, his first responsibility is to act in the interests of farmers, their land and animals and the future of sustainable farming and its dependent communities. I ask the Minister of State to state that he is open to the research which is coming to hand. It will lead to a more sustainable way of dealing with BSE and will also ensure incinerators will not be foisted on Ireland, which are clearly not essential and which other countries such as New Zealand that are competing with us in international food markets are able to avoid. If we go down the incinerating route we will lose our competitive advantage as well as damaging our future.