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Judge's illness scraps continuing hearing on poultry wasteTULSA, Okla. (AP)--The sixth day of a hearing on Oklahoma's preliminary injunction request to stop poultry companies from disposing of animal waste in the Illinois River watershed was canceled March 4 after the judge became ill. The hearing was reset for early March 6. U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell is hearing the matter. Poultry companies were due to continue making their case against the injunction request. On March 3, a Harvard-trained expert for the state testified that bacteria levels from land application of the waste in the 1 million-acre watershed represented "a real and present danger" to the health of the public. The expert testified that because of the contamination levels, people who recreate there need to be informed of the considerable risk they are exposing themselves to. But a poultry company attorney challenged that testimony, suggesting that the state did not account for other sources of possible contamination in its research, such as septic tank leaks or the tons of cattle manure produced each year. Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson says that unless an injunction is granted before the spring rains, the bacteria found in the waste could pose a health threat to hundreds of people who visit the northeastern Oklahoma river valley each year. Robert Lawrence, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was the final witness called by the state March 3 in its preliminary injunction case to stop 13 Arkansas poultry companies from disposing of waste in the watershed. Lawrence testified that a moratorium on land application of the litter would "not totally eliminate the problem, but it would dramatically reduce the threat." Poultry company attorney Patrick Ryan challenged that testimony, and also said there has been no public health risk alert issued by any state agency over conditions there. "You can't identify a single person, can you, who's ever gotten sick in this watershed?" Ryan asked Lawrence. After the testimony, poultry company attorneys argued that the testing used to support the state's case relied on novel methods and implored the judge to treat the science with skepticism. Later, a Tyson Foods executive called by the poultry companies explained that the contract growers, not Tyson, were responsible for disposal of the litter. The state estimates that more than 345,000 tons of poultry waste is produced annually in the watershed, with the bulk of that tonnage disposed of in the same area. More than 1,800 poultry houses are in the watershed, most of them in Arkansas. 3/10/08 Date: 3/6/08 Advertisement
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