PEOPLE on a Kidderminster housing estate have been assured their health was not jeopardised by the burning of foot and mouth-infected animal carcasses.

Pyres were lit earlier this month to dispose of carcasses culled on Sparum Farm in Stanklyn Lane - leaving Spennells residents fearing for their safety after national newspaper reports questioned the effects such burning had on people's health.

Jill Wakeman, of Sanderling Court, has written to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food with her fears that the burning was releasing highly carcinogenic dioxins into the atmosphere.

Mrs Wakeman, 39, told MAFF: "Thick acrid smoke has been billowing across residential areas which are less than a mile, as the crow flies, from the farm.

"Whilst I fully appreciate the urgent need to dispose of carcasses once the animals have been destroyed, I am very unhappy about the airborne pollution from the pyres so close to residential areas."

But a MAFF spokesman told the Shuttle/Times & News: "Animals on infected premises have to be disposed of on site.

"The health question hasn't actually been proven. Any burning releases common air pollutants, but short-term exposure to these will have no significant effects.

"Burning at Sparum Farm started on April 5 and lasted for four or five days but the fire continued to smoulder for some time after that."

A series of reports in the national media have suggested burning cattle and sheep carcasses could lead to the spread of mad cow disease, and that using railway sleepers soaked in bitumen and red diesel released dangerous dioxins into the air.

Air tests were started in Dumfries and Galloway this month after residents raised concerns over the effects of smoke from pyres.

Mrs Wakeman, a local government officer who works in Stourbridge, said: "Until MAFF can refute the health risk it seems fairly irresponsible to carry out this burning."