Potential health risks of tailless camel eating earth (8)
I believe the answer is:
bacteria
'potential health risks' is the definition.
'tailless camel eating earth' is the wordplay.
'tailless' means to remove the last letter.
'camel' becomes 'bactrian' (Bactrian camel is an example).
'eating' is an insertion indicator.
'earth' becomes 'e'.
'bactrian' with its last letter taken away is 'bactria'.
'bactria' going around 'e' is 'BACTERIA'.
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for bacteria that I've seen before include "These single-cell organisms are in bait race" , "Microscopic organisms, can carry disease" , "Germs or bugs" , "Single cell micro-organisms" , "Infectious organisms" .)