Just a few months ago, here in England, the topic of napalm was brought up as a means of disposing the culled carcasses as a result of foot-and-mouth disease (but was never used). The benefits of napalm are that it is quicker and it does not produce dioxins. Livestock pyres have been producing huge amounts of dioxins into the air and groundwater which have been causing concern. Domestic napalm is a mixture of polystyrene, adhesive, diesel and petrol and can destroy a carcass in 60 minutes, compared with three days on a wood pyre. It produces no more pollution than burning petrol and diesel alone.

Napalm was invented by Harvard scientists in 1942 and was used in the Vietnam war. It is the most controversial weapon of war. Since 1998 in America, Naval plants have been trying to dispose the last of Vietnam-era napalm stockpile. To start with, the disposal effort was greeted with concern but now that all of it has been disposed of safely, concerns have been silenced.