Lives of workers in Ashford
blighted by BSE crisis
By Trevor Johnson
On November 6, a team from the Socialist Equality
Party travelled to Ashford in Kent, to campaign for the Workers
Inquiry into between BSE in cattle and the new strain of the
fatal illness, CJD in humans.
Ashford is the town in which several deaths from CJD have
been concentrated. Four cases of the new variant of CJD (which
has now been directly linked to BSE in beef) have occurred within
10 miles of the Canterbury Mills rendering plant in Godmersham.
Animal waste is sent here to be disposed of. Some of this waste
carries the infectious proteins called prions which cause BSE
and CJD. Despite the risks of such material escaping into the
environment, the owners of the plant, Cheale Meats, have consistently
cut corners, leading to a string of legal actions against them.
At a packed meeting in Chilham Village Hall in September,
residents heard a summary of the issues by Dr Alan Colchester,
consultant neurologist at Guys Hospital, London and at William
Harvey Hospital in Ashford. He drew attention to inadequate regulations
and enforcement, the lack of safety procedures, poor design of
the buildings used and the discharge of the effluent into the
local area. The latter causes a bad smell and the risk of infected
material getting into Ashford's drinking water.
SEP campaigners linked the scourge of BSE and CJD to the deregulation
and privatisation of the economy, removing all obstacles to the
drive for profits at the expense of the working class. Particular
emphasis was placed on the responsibility of the Labour Party
and the unions, who put restoring confidence in British beef
above the threat that BSE poses to the health and lives of millions.
The Wye Agricultural College near Ashford keeps its own dairy
cows and teaches animal husbandry, yet several students were
unaware that the latest scientific evidence confirmed the link
between BSE and CJD. Some questioned whether the declining standards
of living and diet were not an inevitable consequence of globalisation.
SEP members replied that global production and the new technology
could be used to raise living standards, but this required an
international struggle against the profit system. No workers
or farmers should be made to suffer for the crisis. The money
should come from the big businesses who had increased their profits
at the expense of the vast majority.
Local residents angry
The ICP/SEP team spoke to many workers who readily voiced
their anger at the cover-up of what was going on.
Jude May, a mother from Ashford, said: "It's being hushed
up. We don't know which foods contain the by-products that cause
CJD. If BSE is in cows, is it in their milk as well? And where
is all the waste going from the cows that are burnt? The TV documentaries
are put on at times when most people won't watch them, so they
don't find out the truth.
"On the television, they had an employee of the Ministry
of Agriculture who was silhouetted to protect his identity. He
admitted that when the calves are killed, they don't know whether
they've got BSE or not. They don't even have records of the breeding
history and pedigree, as they do in Ireland. They don't know
where a particular cow has come from. The first case of BSE was
found near here, I think it was at a farm in Orpington.
"We are the ones who are going to suffer in the long
run, the poor people. It's in the burgers, mince and offal that
we have to buy. People are living on poverty wages, so they have
to buy cheaper meats that cause CJD. It makes me angry when they
say you can buy healthy food instead. When you go into the shops
you find it's 50p or a pound more expensive. So you either go
for the cheap, rubbishy food, or you spend all your money on
some healthy food and make the kids go hungry for the rest of
the week."
Tom Ackerman came to the SEP stall to show his support and
to discuss the recent developments. He said protests had been
made about Canterbury Mills and the effect it was having on the
area:
"I think you will get more of a response now that a definite
link has been established between BSE and the new form of CJD.
When the first cases of BSE were found in this area, they were
just poo-pooed by a lot of people. Now it's becoming more obvious
what's going on. The government contradict themselves with every
third sentence. It's becoming fairly obvious to a lot of people
that there is a lot of money tied up in it, and that's what motivates
the government.
"They've always used science for their own purposes instead
of making things better. The companies that make the chemicals
and the drugs are big and they use their influence. Behind the
scenes, the government and the big companies are all in it together.
They force their products onto people, even when they're harmful.
Even though organo-phosphates have been implicated in the BSE
crisis, they are still used in sheep dip and they can soak in
through the sheep's skin and into the body via the blood stream.
They could pass through into the meat. Instead of using these
chemicals, they could inject the sheep with vaccines as they
do in New Zealand. It would be cheaper as well as being safer.
"Even when there's over-production, they keep using chemicals
to boost the crop yields. Production for profit causes nothing
but disruption and suffering, and I'm very angry about it.
"The unions haven't helped the workers over these issues.
They just shout people down when they make suggestions. They
are only interested in their own self-gratification and in short-term
things." Tom took a subscription to the International
Worker and agreed to help with the Workers Inquiry.
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