OUR LADY'S HOSPITAL for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, could benefit from an unexpected windfall of £12,000 as a result of a ruling in Enniscorthy District Court yesterday in a prosecution over the use of clenhuterol ("angel dust"), an illegal animal growth promoter.
Judge Donnchadh O Buachalla imposed a four-month prison sentence in a case in which an Enniscorthy farmer admitted using the "angel dust" on his farm.
However, having made his ruling, the judge ordered that the warrants not be issued if Isaac Wheelock, of Moneyhore, Caim, Enniscorthy, paid a total of £12,000 to the cancer research unit of Our Lady's Hospital.
The judge also imposed two fines of £500 each on Wheelock, who was found to have illegal implant cartridges and growth hormones on his farm when it was searched by officials from the Department of Agriculture in 1993.
An officer of the Department, a Mr Deeney, gave evidence of visiting Wheelock's farm with other officers on December 8th, 1993. In a cavity wall beside the cattle crush they discovered four implant cartridges and two phials containing residue. One glass bottle contained what was described as a hormone cocktail and the other contained clenbuterol.
The witness said that animals on the farm were sampled, but none had tested positive. The animal meal was also tested, but proved negative. The defendant has now moved entirely into tillage farming, the court heard.
The bottles found on the farm were unlabelled and it was impossible to determine their age or date of manufacture, Mr Deeney said. The labels on the implant cartridges had faded, so they could not be dated. All the items had been exposed to the weather.
Another Department official said that high levels of "angel dust" could remain in the livers and kidneys of animals for quite some time and posed a danger to humans once the organs passed into the food chain.
Wheelock said he had used the illegal growth promoters on his animals in the late 1980s. He was surprised when the items were found by the officials, because he thought he had disposed of them.
Pleading guilty to the three sample charges, Wheelock gave an undertaking not to use illegal growth promoters and never to have them in his possession. If a custodial sentence was imposed, it would have disastrous consequences on his livelihood, he said.
Convicting Wheelock of possessing clenhuterol and the implant cartridges, the judge imposed two separate two-month jail sentences and two fines of £500 each. He took the third charge into consideration and told the defendant to make the payment of £12,000 to Our Lady's Hospital before the warrants were issued.