Saturday August 15, 2009, 6:55 am
Proposals to build composting plants in B.C. to deal with cow-tissue waste from slaughterhouses and butcher shops are running into local opposition due to fear of mad cow disease.

Residents of three small North Okanagan towns -- Grindrod, Westwold and Silver Creek -- are organizing against plans to build cow-tissue composting plants in their communities.

"The community here is small but it's also home," Westwold resident Harvey Sampietro said. "If something goes wrong, who's going to be liable?"

The plants are being pitched as "local solutions" to the problem of what to do with waste cow tissue under new regulations to prevent the spread of mad cow disease.

B.C. has been trucking its cattle waste to Alberta, where it's rendered or incinerated, since 2007 when the province introduced regulations around "specified risk materials" -- such as cow brains, eyes and spinal columns -- to prevent their use in animal feed, pet food and fertilizer.

But shipping costs to Alberta are high, and the B.C. and federal governments are hoping much of the slaughterhouse waste can be handled closer to home...... more at site, Please visit

Saturday August 15, 2009, 8:10 am
I don't understand this. Canada comes up with a plan to take the "Specified Risk Material" (SRM) out of the equation so we can greatly reduce the probablilty of infecting our pets and our human population with the nearly indestructible Mad Cow prions. Now we want to back track and dump this waste back on our fields or put it in our flower beds or vegetable gardens? Am I missing something here or are we going backwards. As a species, I think we must be devolving.

Saturday August 15, 2009, 11:35 am
Eeewww, not good. Thanks cowboss...

Saturday August 15, 2009, 11:50 am
Totally in agreement with Karen, yep, Karen is right we are a devolving species,

Saturday August 15, 2009, 11:58 am
Karen, I wanted to send you a green star for your comment, but Care 2 would not let me since I sent you one already this week,

Saturday August 15, 2009, 1:31 pm
If compost is heated to a certain point it kills many pathogens and diseases but not quite sure how hot it needs to be. I will have to check into that.
Thanks Cowboss

Saturday August 15, 2009, 1:38 pm
Tierney

Dem nasty BSE prions are NOT destroyed by composting -- in fact there is very little that will destroy them!

cowboss

Saturday August 15, 2009, 3:45 pm
That is a kicker, CowBoss.
I do recall the original British problem was associated - most unscientifically of course - by a farmer. He thought there was a possible connection between the development of Mad Cow in animals and the presence of magnesium compounds in the soil - residue of spray compounds. Statistical analysis was cited.
Since learning that fertilizer was invented by I.G. Farben some years ago, I am not surprised that we are 'in over our heads.'
I knew personally a research chemistry head who died from cancer - as did his staff : PCBs. And I lost my best friend to enviro conditions at a natural gas 'cracking' plant : the office manager too...and a brain damaged engineer for a landlord.
Nothing was said. Job loss was likely in the community if anything came out.
Lawsuits are a deterrent to motormouths as well.
Just to make our day, shall I start digging into the part where primitive life forms are hard to kill - we have no defenses - and if we took carbon dating of today's soil it would come out very prehistoric?
There has to be some reason cleanup crews for oil spills die.
I'll go back and stew : see what develops. It's going to be tough to improve on today, though. I let loose with stuff that is very much not 'Politically Correct.'

Sunday August 16, 2009, 7:11 am
That's a mad idea, that is going to cause a huge stink with the people... who wants a composting yard in their neighbour hood especially if it is smelly and has tissue in it... Yuck

Sunday August 16, 2009, 12:49 pm
I guess all those people who are against the composting in this town should also stop eating any beef products that I am sure many of them do....just because eyes and spines are disposed of does not necessarily means the cow is not sick. The composting issue, I am not so sure about...although it is nastier to compost flesh type waste so I can imagine that would be stinky.....whooo weee.

Monday August 17, 2009, 2:11 pm
gross!!! one more problem with the production of meat!

Monday August 17, 2009, 2:25 pm
Eat things that are dead and you die faster, eat things that are alive and live longer and "better". They should teach that in first grade, along with Honesty, responsibility and awareness : when we see this in OUR schools we will be serving ourselves.

Monday August 17, 2009, 2:46 pm
I AM saying you should do whatever you choose