IN response to the foot and mouth report (July 22), I wonder has anyone considered investigating the science of whether the burning of infected animals could disperse the virus into the air? I recall seeing video on the news of the mass burnings up in the Lake District, and thinking that the actual incineration was far from immediate, given the bulk of the animals and the quantity of carcasses, and that there was considerable venting of gases, steam and solids into the air prior to the actual total destruction of the carcass.

I realise that the problem facing health authorities and government agencies was profoundly huge and that the method employed may have been the most immediately practical solution, but was it safe?

Jim Rivis,

Montpelier,

Vermont,

USA.

Updated: 10:40 Friday, July 26, 2002