Conservationist David Bellamy spoke last night of his fears over the smoke from animal pyres.
Mr Bellamy - who lives in Bedburn, County Durham, only a few miles from Hamsterley, where an outbreak was confirmed on Saturday - said: "The one thing that does worry me is the burning of animals, because we are now told it's airborne.
"What happens to all the smoke and ash that goes in the air? I suppose the Government knows what it's doing."
The anti-European cele-brity said: "We lost 20,000 farmers last year. How many farmers will we have left this year? If we don't have farmers, what will happen to the countryside?"
He said the closure of abattoirs had to be partly to blame for the speed with which foot-and-mouth had spread.
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