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Exposed: Secret Studies on Coal Substitutes Could Spread Mad Cow Disease in RP

The Department of Energy (DoE) and the National Power Corporation (Napocor) are said to be conducting studies on the use of imported meat bone meals from certain European Union countries contaminated with the dreaded mad cow disease as fuel substitutes and additives to coal being used to generate power. Officials from the Department of Health (DoH) fear that if this is true, the mad cow disease will spread in the country on the same scale when it struck Europe.

BY YNA SORIANO
Bulatlat.com

Unknown to the public, the government’s energy sector has been secretly conducting studies on the viability of using a potentially hazardous material as replacement to coal in power generation.

The Department of Energy (DoE) and the National Power Corporation (Napocor) are entertaining proposals from European Union countries to use imported meat bone meals (MBM) contaminated with the dreaded mad cow disease as fuel substitutes and additives to coal being used at the Calaca power plants in Calaca, Batangas.

In violation of the government ban on the importation of cattle and cattle by-products from Europe, the DoE permitted the entry into the country of mad cow infected MBMs. A pack of MBM was in fact allegedly tested at the Energy Research Laboratory-Coal Section of the DoE some time in April this year.

Health department officials said the Philippines has not been hit by mad cow disease. They agreed however that if indeed the EU proposals are approved by government, the disease would spread in the country.

Meanwhile, brokers from the European Union have been visiting the Napocor power plants in Calaca to assess the site for possible infrastructure redesigning to suit the bone meal incineration technology.

It is feared that the importation of bone meals for energy use will pave the way for the spread of the communicable mad cow disease for cattles and its equivalent for humans, the Creutzeldt-Jacob disease (CJD).

MBM anyone?

Bone meals or animal meals which are derived from bones of animals are used as a phosphorus and calcium source in animal feeding. Their use as ruminant feeds was banned throughout Europe in the ‘90s because they were found to be infected with the mad cow’s disease. Since then, the disposal of bone meals has become a major problem for European governments.

To prevent the disease-laden animal meals from re-entering the food chain, European governments made it obligatory starting early this year to burn the animal meals at suitable facilities in their countries. Aside from incineration plants, owners of full process plants manufacturing hydraulic binders like cement factories were obligated to accept animal meals.

Recently, the European Union offered millions of tons of these bone materials to the Philippine government for free. The offer was contained in a letter by the Bundesfachverband Fleisch e. V., a German meat association, dated March 8, 2001, addressed to Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho of the DOE.

Mad cow’s disease

The mad cow disease first came to the attention of the health community in 1986 when an epidemic of the illness erupted and killed more than 100,000 cows in Britain. This fatal disease was so named because an affected cattle literally turns mad – it exhibits changes in temperament (nervousness and/or aggression), gains abnormal posture and gait, develops disturbances in balance, muscular rigidity and sleepiness – before dying.

The medical community calls the disease Bovine Spongiform Encepalopathy (BSE) because the brain tissue of infected cattle appears spongy when examined under a microscope.

BSE is highly communicable disease and is caused by an agent called prion, a self-replicating protein resistant to freezing, drying, heating and physical and chemical disinfectants. The BSE prion does not elicit an immune response in the host and, therefore, the body defenses of the host do not fight off the agent.

It has a long incubation period, lasting from four to six years on the average. Symptoms have been noted on cattle as young as one year and ten months.

BSE-affected cows die within two weeks to 14 months. The disease is primarily transmitted via the oral route. But it can also be transmitted through the injection of prion-containing tissue (e.g., brain, spinal cord or retina) into animals (as has been proven in the laboratory).

In Britain where more than 180,000 confirmed cases of the disease have been reported, the primary source of the disease-causing agent is the commercial cattle feed concentrates that contain meat and bone meal derived from sheep presumed to be infected with scrapie, a naturally-occurring disease of sheep and goat.

Although BSE has been primarily a disease of the British cattle, it has in fact crossed Britain’s borders. Many countries in Europe have now also banned the use of ruminant proteins in the preparation of animal feed.

Mad man’s disease

BSE is actually just one of seven Transmissible Spongiform Encepalopathies (TSE) that affect animals. There are also TSEs that affect humans, chief of these is Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease (CJD), an extremely rare disease that affects mostly the elderly.

In 1996, a newly recognized form of CJD was reported in Britain. This form affects younger persons (average age of patients at diagnosis is 29 years) and is strongly linked, probably through food, to BSE. Subsequently, this disease entity, named variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), was proven to be similar but distinct from CJD, and has since been accorded the status of new disease.

What is very disturbing at the moment is that existing evidence strongly suggests that vCJD is caused by the same agent that causes BSE in cattle.

No case of either mad cow’s or mad man’s disease has been recorded yet in the Philippines according to the Department of Health (DOH). Its public health officials are, however, worried that should the government approve the EEC proposal, the diseases would spread in the country.

Indications

Ma. Salome Torre-Grande, spokesperson of Napocor, denies that Napocor is considering the idea of using the bone meals as additive to the coal materials being currently used in its power plants. She told Bulatlat.com in an interview that Napocor has not started testing the controversial bone meals’ viability for power use.

However, a document entitled “A Study on the Use of Bone Meal As Alternative Fuel For Batangas Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant Unit I” by Napocor’s Energy Services Division was secured by Bulatlat.com confirming Napocor’s efforts contrary to Grande’s claims. The study report is dated May 28, 2001.

Reliable sources also confided that EU brokers visited Napocor’s coal-fired thermal power plants in Calaca, Batangas last month to assess the site for possible re-designing of infrastructures to suit the bone meal incineration technology.

The Energy Research Laboratory – Coal Section of the Department of Energy, on the other hand, conducted laboratory tests on a pack of European bone meal in April this year despite the absence of an import permit and a health hazard clearance. The test was also conducted while there was an existing ban on importation of all kinds of meat, meat products and bone meals for any use (including laboratory analysis) from European countries.

Memorandum Order No. 19, Series of 2000 of the Department of Agriculture provides for the “temporary ban on the importation of live cattle, sheep and goats, their meat and meat products, bovine embryo, meat and bone meal and other feed ingredients derived from the said animals from European countries”.

NAPOCOR’s benefits

By using the bone meal as partial replacement for coal to run its thermal power plants, the National Power Corporation (Napocor) could save about P323,875 per day or about P83 million per year based on its own study.

Brokers claim that because bone meal has a high heating value, a great number of European factories use this substance as a blending material for energy and infrastructure purposes.

In Europe, according to a German meat association, studies showed that the combined use of coal and animal bone meal during combustion generates no added particles or elements which could be traced in air after firing. Meaning, bone meals do not generate pollution unlike coal and so they are safe for humans, animals or the environment.

Bone meal studies

Based on “A Study on the Use of Bone Meal As Alternative Fuel for Batangas Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant Unit I” by the Energy Services Company of the Napocor, given the chemical properties of bone meal, its heating value is almost the same as that of the Semirara coal.

Bone meal heating value (7,044 BTU/lb) is a little bit less than Semirara which is 7,082 BTU/lb. With these figures, substitution of bone meal to Semirara coal may be feasible. However, the process of substitution is not that simple because of the mad cow’s disease factor.

Signed by Roland R. Cabasa, head of the ESCO, he wrote in a cover letter of the Napocor study, that “by using the bone meal as partial replacement for coal, we will be saving an estimated US$ 6,477.50 per day or US$ 1,655,001.25 per year at 70% plant capacity factor. However, this analysis was arrived at, disregarding various constraints like handling and operational constraints.”

Attached in the study papers was another paper titled, “Proposed Installations for Bone Meal Feed at Batangas Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant – I”.

Findings of the Energy Research Laboratory – Coal Section of the Department of Energy, however, present some utilization problems, as follow:

High nitrogen content (7.36%) – Combustion of the material will generate nitrogen oxide gases which, when released to the atmosphere, will react with water to form acid eventually reaching the earth as acid rain.

High volatile matter (57.24%) – The value is beyond the acceptable limit for power plant utilization, which is between 10-35%.

The DOE study also claims that “the high ash content, high nitrogen and volatile matter constituents of the material make it a poor fuel substitute or blending material for power plant use. The material has only the equivalent calorific value of lignite and will not enhance the quality of the coal to which it would be blended.”

It adds: Separation of ash from the bone meal for beneficiation is an expensive process, if at all possible; so it is assumed that the material will be used without prior cleaning process.

High risk

A German study on bone meals notes:

Apart from the potential risks from BSE pathogens (mad cow’s disease), the storage and composition of MBM may entail risks from pests, vermin, bacteria and fungi. To minimize these risks, an increase in the water content should be avoided during storage.

If the storage temperature is allowed to exceed certain levels, MBM may heat up and spontaneously combust.

MBM may harden if stored over long periods.

Standard disinfectants provide no guarantee that any BSE pathogens will be inactivated.

Certain grades or distributions of grades can bring a risk of explosion.

Robert Garcia, 49, a former stevedore in Napocor power plants in Calaca, Batangas, could only comment: “Matagal na naming nirireklamo sa management na wala kaming safety gadget at uniform habang naglilinis ng maalikabok na coal. Lahat halos ng mga stevedore ay may sakit sa baga…kapag ginamit ng Napocor management ang bone meal na may mad cow’s disease, kaming nasa handling at storage ang unang tatamaan at walang dudang mabilis na kakalat ‘yan...(We have long been complaining to the management that we do not have safety gadgets and uniforms while cleanings the coal ashes. Almost all stevedores already suffer with lung illnesses… If Napocor decides to use the bone meal which is infected by mad cow’s disease, workers involved in handling and storage will be the first to get the disease. No doubt it will also spread fast…)”

Dr. Luningning E. Villa, medical specialist IV and national coordinator of the Program for Emerging Diseases of the Center for Infectious Diseases-Department of Health, confirmed Garcia’s fears. The prion responsible for mad cow’s disease could be transferred either by ingestion, injection and physical contact with open wounds.

“If during the transport or unloading of bone meals, for example, some of it falls to the ground, that small amount may be eaten by roaming chickens which will get infected with the mad cow’s disease. If the chickens are cooked and eaten by humans, the prion will get into the human food chain unnoticed. An epidemic could occur, starting from a very, very simple incident,” Villa explained

She added: “If we still have other options, the government should not choose the bone meals.”

Environmental activists, meanwhile, are furious over the idea.

“Not even in their wildest dreams should they entertain the EU proposal of importing bone meals as fuel replacement in coal-fired thermal power plants,” says Tina O. Urag of the non-government organization Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) – Philippines.

The CEC was the organizer of an environmental investigative mission in 1991 and spearheaded the campaign against industrial pollution being generated by coal-based technology in the Napocor power plants in Calaca, Batangas.

Isidro De los Reyes, a barangay councilor in Batangas, noted that using hazardous materials like the bone meals in a country where graft and corruption is rampant is dangerous. “What will happen if those handling its freight and storage decide to use inferior materials in the construction of the bone meals’ storage facilities?” he asked. He also cited the risks that could arise from accidents and robbery. Bulatlat.com

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