Public health concerns are growing across the United Kingdom over the disposal of animals culled in the foot and mouth outbreak. With smoke from nearby pyres drifting daily over many village communities, fears of an increase in respiratory illness have compounded existing anxieties about the risk of decaying carcasses contaminating drinking water supplies and the toxic effects of excessive exposure to disinfectant.

Several health alerts have been reported. In Dumfries and Galloway air quality tests were ordered after Annandale and Eskdale Council for Voluntary Service claimed that bitumen, red diesel, and coal were being used …