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Animal disease employees make claims of improper waste disposal

DES MOINES (AP) --- The city of Ames is investigating allegations that the National Animal Disease Center may have improperly disposed of animal waste into the city's wastewater treatment system.

"It's necessary to move forward quickly to try to address everybody's concerns," said Tom Neumann, the city's water and pollution control director.

Federal officials have denied the claims, saying all waste at the facility is properly treated.

Neumann said two NADC employees contacted the city Wednesday with the allegations and provided information to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

The NADC employees allege that the U.S. Department of Agriculture center, which researches animal diseases, is not heat sterilizing water used to wash rooms of animal feces and urine, sending some of the potentially hazardous waste to the city's wastewater facility.

Neumann said the city is concerned that the waste contains complex proteins called prions that are found in fatal diseases, including mad cow disease and chronic wasting disease. The city's wastewater system does not treat its wastewater for such substances.

"We're dealing with allegations that some of these materials were improperly handled and improperly treated," Neumann said. "If that occurred ... some of it could go through our treatment process and be directly discharged into the environment."

The prions can attach themselves to sludge that builds up during wastewater treatment. That sludge then is applied to land near the treatment facility, which is located in a remote area of the city, he said.

There are questions on whether animals or humans exposed to the prions could get sick. Neumann said that includes concerns that deer could be exposed to chronic wasting disease, a debilitating brain ailment that strikes deer and elk, and has not yet been detected in Iowa.

The NADC and the city have teamed up for an investigation, which Neumann said will bring together outside experts, including representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

"We have to respond to assure ourselves, our employees, the citizens of Ames that the practices are adequate to protect the health and well-being of this area," he said.

The panel, Neumann said, may find that the bleaching process the facility was allegedly using was enough to safely treat the prions.

"It's entirely possible that what they were doing ... might be an acceptable minimum level," Neumann said.

Sandy Miller Hays, a spokeswoman for the Agricultural Research Service, which runs the lab, denied that animal waste was improperly handled. She said all the water used to wash away liquid animal waste was heat sterilized at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes -- a method accepted by the World Health Organization.

"We are absolutely confident that we are using a very safe and effective protocol," she said, adding that all solid animal waste related to the lab's research is incinerated.

EPA spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said her agency is in the initial stages of researching prion disposal.

"We're too early in the process to say what is an adequate way as far as detection and disposal in wastewater systems," she said.

Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, said he is concerned about the allegations. He said he is working with federal officials to ensure the public receives "full disclosure of what threat, if any, has been posed to the environment."

Latham said he has asked the agriculture secretary to instruct the USDA's Office of Inspector General to investigate the allegations.

DNR spokesman Kevin Baskins said the city of Ames has a wastewater pretreatment agreement with the NADC that is meant to help identify any hazards.

"It's really important that these wastewater plants know what's going into their system," he said.
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