Abbey Gardens in Lee Valley Regional Park vicitim of irresponsible dog owners (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

Dog got to go somewhere and if it is a runny product how can you scoop poo that?

Thats rarely the case Marcus. Its usually non-runny. If dog owners dont clear up after their dogs at parks and pavements, then they shouldn't have got a dog!!
I think there should be a crackdown at the Abbey Gardens seeing as its Waltham Abbey's only beauty spot...everywhere else in the town is horrible

There are many issues raised by this article and the Editor's Comment in the print version of the newspaper. Unfortunately most of the assertions in the Editor's Comment are inaccurate. To deal with just two of these first:
1 Dog faeces left in public places is not and has never been a major cause of toxoplasmosis. Most diagnosed cases are the result of cross-contamination during food preparation in households which have warm blooded, meat eating pets. Of these pets cats are by far the largest source of the disease - they often defecate in the house and garden and walk across kitchen surfaces. Having said this, I am not trying to excuse irresponsible, anti-social dog owners who do not clear up after their pets. I would go further and recommend that we adopt the best practises from other countries where domestic pets, including dogs and cats, have to be kept on a lead when out of the house.
2 There was never a time when 100s of children went blind because of dog mess. The number of laboratory diagnosed cases of toxoplasmosis has been around 120 per year for as long as records have been kept, even though 30% of the UK population will have been infected by the age of 30 (in France it is 65%). The incidence of acute eye problems resulting from this infection is 0.4 per 100,000 population per year in people born in the UK (the incidence in people born outside the UK is about 57/100,000). Of these 80% were infected in the womb - which is a good reason to get rid of cats and dogs during pregnancy!
Now to some of the other issues:
1 Irresponsible dod owners will not buy a licence the same as irresponsible car owners do not MOT, Tax or insure their vehicles
2 Irresponsible owners will not pick up their dogs' mess unless somebody is standing over them. Even when they think they are being watched they only pick up the mess to later discard it in a tree or shrub. Has anyone else noticed the increase in bags containing dog pooh handing from branches in parks and other public places? It would be better to leave the mess on the ground where it will degrade in a fairly short time - how long will it take for a plastic bag to disintegrate?
3 Although a large percentage of the popoulation is infected each year it is normally only the already vulnerable who experience the worst symptoms - i.e. people with AIDS or other immune supressant conditions.
Finally some famous people who have been infected with toxoplasmosis are Arthur Ashe, Seb Coe, Martina Navratilova.