Day 096 - 03 Mar 95 - Page 43


     
     1
     2   Q.   Head only stunning.  Is the person who does the shackling
     3        the same as the person who does the sticking?  Would they
     4        do both those jobs?
     5        A.  No, no, no.
     6
     7   Q.   So you have one person for the stunning and one for the
     8        shackling; is that right?
     9        A.  Yes, that is correct.
    10
    11   Q.   Then, what, one more for the sticking?
    12        A.  Yes, because that is a very specific operation that we
    13        do where the blood is collected for pharmaceutical purposes
    14        for factor 8 for human beings.
    15
    16   Q.   Is that routinely collected, is that every day?
    17        A.  Every day.
    18
    19   Q.   So, generally speaking, there will be three people working
    20        in that area?
    21        A.  Yes.
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just as a matter of pure interest, really,
    24        what proportion of the blood actually goes for
    25        pharmaceutical use?
    26        A.  All the pigs that are passed fit for human consumption,
    27        we have a system where each pig is monitored, and when the
    28        pig has been totally passed for human consumption, then
    29        that blood is then passed being fit for processing for
    30        pharmaceutical purposes, for haemophiliacs.
    31
    32   MS. STEEL:  So the person who is sticking, do they have to catch
    33        the blood as well?
    34        A.  Well, that is a very hygienic and specific process that
    35        we do and, in actual fact, after every batch of pigs is
    36        processed and that blood which is then passed as fit,
    37        everything is then destroyed.  Then we start with another
    38        sterilized set of equipment.
    39
    40   Q.   So is the blood collected by a machine rather than by the
    41        person?
    42        A.  No, no, a man, he has to hold the knife in the correct
    43        pitch, hold the knife in the correct position, to collect
    44        the blood.
    45
    46   Q.   Then in his other hand he is, what, holding some kind of
    47        container or what?
    48        A.  No, no, no.
    49
    50   Q.   That is what I am asking. 
    51        A.  That is then evacuated by vacuum.  He holds the pig's 
    52        front foot, he sticks the pig, he holds the knife there and 
    53        there is a vacuum that draws the blood into the sterilized
    54        containers.
    55
    56   Q.   That person does all those on his own?
    57        A.  Yes.
    58
    59   Q.   The stunning current, is that AC or DC, sorry, the voltage?
    60        A.  The voltage?  It is approximately 130 odd volts that

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