AFTER a period of optimism at the end of last week, there is more doom and gloom today as non-farming communities began to express concern on the effects of animal pyres on human health.

The good news is that the Cumbrian outbreak now seems to have peaked and the number of news cases reported on Sunday was down to seven - a massive improvement - but elsewhere, the situation is far from happy.

Devon is still very hard hit and local protest groups have raised an outcry on the possible damage to human health from smoke from burning animal carcasses - a matter also raised by Cumbrian health officials.

The most serious threat comes from deadly dioxins, one of the most dangerous by-products from large-scale burning which can cause human cancers. Activists in Devon caused the abandonment of several planned pyres over the weekend and are demanding a switch to burial as a way of dealing with carcasses.

To help calm these fears, Environment Minister Michael Meacher said today that the amount of dioxins released by such pyres throughout the outbreak was only the equivalent of two November 5th bonfire nights.

But he admitted: "There is no disposal method which is entirely risk free."

Other developments include:

• It was claimed over the weekend that as many of ten per cent of healthy animals slaughtered may have gone to their deaths unnecessarily because their so-called neighbouring outbreaks had been false alarms - another damning criticism of Government handling on the crisis.

• A new outbreak near Northallerton is only half a mile from the home of opposition leader William Hague, who house is now in a movement restrictions area.

• And one of Yorkshire's leading businessmen, Lord Haskins, chairman of Northern Foods, has called upon the Government to introduce a vaccination programme. Lord Haskins, who owns a farm in the East Riding, is a prominent Government supporter.