This use of HCB has been banned in Austria since 1992, not least because of the strong carcinogenic effects of HCB. Unborn children and small children in particular are considered to be particularly at risk when ingesting HCB, with the very strong lipophilic properties of HCB leading to accumulation in oils and fats or, when looking at individual organisms, accumulation in their fatty tissues. The half-life of HCB in the environment is around 6-7 years, depending on various external factors. With regard to the behavior of HCB when ingested by agricultural animals, in this case cattle, the naturally highly fluctuating metabolic situations of these animals must definitely be taken into account in a risk assessment. When the metabolic state is anabolic (e.g. cows: low milk production, standing dry), high amounts of the absorbed HCB are stored in the fatty tissue of the organism. When a catabolic metabolic situation occurs (e.g. cows: from the start of lactation), the stored body fat is melted (=used), HCB is released and excreted in high quantities with the milk. In the case of suckler cow farming, the nursing calf represents a "biofilter" so to speak, meaning that it is itself contaminated by ingesting HCB-contaminated milk and the animal no longer excretes this HCB. The meat and fat of this animal therefore remains for a very long time, possibly for life. After cattle consume HCB-contaminated feed, agricultural products meat and milk are contaminated with HCB. It can be assumed that around 10 tonnes of HCB (estimate) entered the environment in the Görtschitztal as part of an incomplete combustion process and was thus reflected regionally as emissions, including on the animal feed.

Goals of the project:

It is important to remove a very large amount of feed (hay, silage) that is contaminated with HCB from the farms or to replace it with uncontaminated purchased feed. In addition to the logistical solution to this issue (according to Dr. Hofer/TGD, there are more than 5,000 tons of feed that need to be replaced), it is important to evaluate all of this feed and provide farmers with assistance so that the farmer can achieve both quantitative and... The farmer also receives substitute feed of comparable quality or, if the quality is inferior, the difference can be refunded to the farmer. To do this, however, it is necessary to standardize the assessment and to train farmers and advisors on how (=procedure) these feedstuffs should be assessed. This task will be Dr. Take over Buchgraber (for more details see the supplement “Görtschitztal Buchgraber action plan”).

Since it is unclear how long HCB will actually last in soil, in the feed advertised in the future (harvests 2015, 2016,...) as well as in the meat and milk of the animals fed with it, in addition to the routine sampling of tank milk samples and slaughtered ones that are currently taking place Animal-defined farms are subject to more intensive examinations.

By adhering to the sampling scheme, we should receive answers to the questions of whether or how cows change their HCB excretion depending on the lactation stage or how long HCB is excreted or how high the excretion is with a defined HCB intake. Contamination of manure and slurry and, through this route, the soil and consequently also animal feed must also be clarified and subsequently assessed in terms of risk management.
With the measures presented, we can help solve the HCB problem in the Görtschitztal as quickly as possible and give the affected Carinthian farmers new prospects.

Detailed description of the planned project:

A corresponding sampling plan was drawn up and dairy farming, suckler cow farming, sheep farming and wild animals should be taken into account.

Regarding dairy cows: here the focus is clearly on the milk and, as is now known, the milk fat content of a cow is not a constant (difference between initial and final milking, etc.). Since a high correlation can be expected between the milk fat content and the HCB value, only exact, representative sampling will help us and this can only be guaranteed using a milk quantity measuring device. Hence our suggestion to run the samples on the dairy farms simultaneously with the LKV examinations. The approximately 40-day interval of the LKV sampling would also produce a good picture if the examinations no longer found positive results for a year, or at least until three sampling dates in a row (at the company level). Blood samples are also useful, centrifuged serum for a blood chemical test for at least FFA, BHB and liver enzymes (possibly also a full analysis, would not be much more expensive) as well as a blood sample for HCB content.
3 dairy farms should be included in these studies, from each farm 3 cows dry, 3 cows within the first 60 days of lactation, 3 cows within 61-180 DIM and 3 cows old milking (longer than 180 DIM). As part of the LKV sampling, the excess milk from the milk quantity measuring device could be used to determine HCB. 2 farms should be Simmental cattle farms, another either BV or HF. The same 12 cows from the respective farm would always be sampled on the sampling dates (LKV control) and at the same time/on this day the environmental samples-feed-feces... would also be taken (see specific sampling plan).

Regarding the suckler cows: Milk samples are not required here, animals for slaughter are routinely sampled anyway, so the environmental samples are still required, as they are already listed in the sampling plan for the dairy cows, three suckler cow farms should also be sampled, interval also 40 days

. Sheep farms: At least one too Sheep farms should be included in these studies, sampling as in suckler cow husbandry

Chances of success:

The chances of success depend largely on the financing of the analyzes and thus on the complete implementation of the project. Only through this intensive sampling for HCB can the kinetics and cycle of HCB within an agricultural operation (contamination of feed-animal products or feces and subsequently manure/slurry-soil feed-...) be identified and possible risks within the framework estimate the renovation.

Importance of the project (for agriculture/forestry/water management/environment/other areas):

The remediation of the HCB problem is of paramount importance, not only for the affected farmers in the Görtschitztal (360 farms) and for regional production. The supra-regional Austrian production of milk and meat has already had real problems as a result of this HCB problem and there were/are still negative effects on these markets in Austria (sales problems, ...). Also in other areas such as Austrian tourism, where a healthy environment in Austria / Carinthia is pointed out or advertised ("holiday with friends", "holiday on the farm", "Brettljause at the farmer's",...) , the HCB problem has already shown negative effects. It is of fundamental importance for Austria that the remediation of the HCB problem in the Görtschitztal is implemented in a technically sound manner, without any risk in the sense of crisis management and therefore not dictated by the idea of ​​austerity. Mistakes (BMG decree quoted above), but also negligent handling of this HCB cleanup (e.g. lack of disposal of "yellow" feed) could become an uncontrollable problem in the future and cause a disaster for local agriculture.