Day 113 - 03 Apr 95 - Page 37
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2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think the difficulty is Mr. Morris may be
3 trying not to lead you, as it were, which, therefore,
4 leaves the gate open for things we are not concerned with.
5 So, put BSE on one side because I have said that you must
6 do so. Put on one side disease which humans may obtain
7 from working with animals unless there is any further
8 argument as to that. Salmonella, we have heard a lot
9 about, E.coli 0157, we have heard a lot about. Why do you
10 not ask a leading question anyway if you have a particular
11 point in mind, Mr. Morris?
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13 MR. MORRIS: I have not a particular point. I just want to know
14 what you feel the diseases that are present in cattle,
15 which ones -----
16 A. One other, I do not know whether you heard of this, a Q
17 fever, it is called Q fever, that is serious. Those sorts
18 of diseases like E 1057 have more than just gut troubles in
19 the victims, and Q fever has effects on other parts of the
20 anatomy apart from the gut.
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22 Q. But these are diseases which are contained in the gut of
23 the actual animal?
24 A. They would be transmitted from the gut of the animal
25 because, you have to remember, that meat and milk are foods
26 that are prepared in what is a lavatory as well as a
27 factory. There is fairly ------
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29 Q. Sorry, what is a lavatory?
30 A. A lavatory? Well, there is the excreta and the muck,
31 and it is very closely in contact with, certainly parts of
32 the operation, the bare flesh. Bare flesh, when it is
33 exposed, is sterile, but in the factory you will get
34 distribution of bacteria through the aerosols.
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36 Q. This is in the slaughterhouse?
37 A. Yes. So, one will get transfer of organisms that come
38 in on the hide that are spread during the flaying and other
39 operations -----
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41 Q. Flaying, what is the flaying?
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43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Taking the hide off.
44 A. Flaying is skinning, taking the hide off. That is the
45 common problem in slaughterhouses as well as poultry
46 slaughter. I mean, it is a problem in poultry slaughter as
47 well. So, those are the diseases that would come as
48 zoonosis to the human bacterial diseases. It will come to
49 human populations. Other diseases might be fungal, things
50 like ring worm, handling meat sometimes causes problems in
51 pregnant women.
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53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We are concerned with the consequences of
54 eating meat so far as the leaflet here is concerned.
55 A. Could I just suggest, though, before it reaches the
56 table the housewife, or house husband, has to handle it in
57 the kitchen. Therefore, in order to get it to eat, you
58 have to think of the contamination in the kitchen, in the
59 refrigerator, and diseases like toxoplasmosis pose a danger
60 in handling raw meat.
