Originally from: Sue Mason
                        
Landfill sites could be pressed back into service under emergency plans to cope with a surge in foot-and-mouth cases, officials confirmed. Local residents concerned about health risks protested against their use at the height of the epidemic. But they could see old sites reopened or new ones built if the outbreak reignites during the autumn, when conditions help the disease to spread. A private report detailing the proposals were purely “contingency plans”, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs stressed. Ministers have been warned landfills and incinerators could be needed if that happens and millions of animals have to be slaughtered. Four options for dealing with an upsurge in cases are outlined by the document, according to reports. The “black sky scenario” deals with the disease spreading from the current “hotspot” around Thirsk in North Yorkshire and to prime pig breeding territory in East Yorkshire. That could even see the reintroduction of controversial pyres, The Guardian says. But even the next worst scenario, where cases rise to five a day, would involve a return to using incinerators and extending landfill, the paper says. Referring to the plans for landfill, the Defra spokeswoman said: “Yes, they look at various scenarios and what might be necessary. “Yes these sort of things are mentioned if there were a major outbreak. “That is not to say that it is going to happen. These are contingency plans.”