U.K.: Foot and mouth disease is found in Britain
04.aug.07
N.Y. Times/Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-britain-cattle.html?_r=1&hp&oref=sloginLONDON -- Foot and mouth disease has, according to the U.K. government Friday, been found in cattle on a British farm, as it banned livestock movements to prevent a repeat of a 2001 outbreak that blighted farming and rural tourism.
The agriculture department Defra was cited as saying that infected livestock were found on a farm near Guildford, close to London, and all cattle on the farm were being culled.
Officials immediately halted movements of pigs and ruminant animals such as cows and sheep across the United Kingdom to stop the spread of the disease and set up a 10-km (six-mile) surveillance zone around the farm.
The disease causes high fevers and blisters in cloven-hoofed animals and can often lead to death. It can be contracted by cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, but very rarely by people.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown took part by telephone in an emergency meeting of officials on Friday evening from southern England, where he began a holiday on Friday.
He will cut short his break in Dorset and return to London on Saturday to chair another meeting of the emergency committee, COBRA, a spokeswoman for his office said.
Recommendations made following the 2001 outbreak were being followed "to the letter," she added.
The stories explain that millions of animals were killed during the 2001 outbreak, destroying the livelihoods of thousands of farmers. Images of funeral pyres of burning animals were flashed around the world, dealing a huge blow to Britain's tourism industry.
Brown's predecessor Tony Blair came under intense criticism for his government's handling of the last outbreak, particularly for a slow response and for failing to stop the movement of animals quickly.
Officials said animals would now be disposed of by incineration to avoid a repeat of the 2001 pyres.
The National Farmers' Union was cited as saying in a statement it welcomed the blanket ban on the movement of livestock, adding, "We believe that this is the right response to this incident and it is vital that we do everything possible to stop the spread of this disease quickly. We would encourage all livestock keepers to be vigilant and monitor their livestock closely."
The disease can be carried on the wheels of vehicles, in livestock units and on shoes and boots, officials warned. They said it was too soon to say how the cattle had become infected.
The last outbreak of the highly contagious disease began in 2001 in an abattoir in southern England, and spread to several other European Union countries before it was eradicated.
Then, the country's livestock industry was just recovering from an outbreak of mad cow disease -- Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy -- that swept British herds in the 1980s and early 1990s.
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U.K.: Foot and mouth outbreak sparks emergency
04.aug.07
The Telegraph
Brendan Carlin and George Jones
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/04/ndefra104.xmlBritain faced the prospect of a new foot and mouth epidemic last night after a case of the disease was confirmed for the first time since the disastrous outbreak of 2001.
The Government launched emergency measures after cattle at a farm near Guildford, Surrey, tested positive.
A nationwide ban on the movement of livestock, including cattle and pigs, was imposed immediately.
It is understood that local vets were first alerted on Thursday, with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs experts confirming the case late yesterday.
Gordon Brown, on holiday with his family in Dorset, was informed and by 9.30pm took part by telephone in a meeting of Cobra - the Cabinet Office emergency committee.
U.K.: Government must act fast to avoid new 2001
04.aug.07
The Telegraph
Stephen Adams
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/04/ndefra204.xmlThe 2001 foot and mouth epidemic is thought to have cost the country more than £8 billion, of which almost £3 billion was funded by the taxpayer.
Up to 10 million animals were slaughtered, plunging thousands of farming families into financial ruin as the disease gripped the nation.
Tourism was also severely hit as footpaths across the countryside were closed for months, with the cost to the trade put as high as £3.2billion. Events were cancelled, including the world famous Isle of Man TT motor-cycle race, and townsfolk and country dwellers were told to keep off farmland.
By the end of March, the disease was at its height with up to 50 new cases a day and a few weeks later Tony Blair took the decision to delay the general election and local elections.
Hundreds of thousands of animals were being culled as the Government struggled to contain the outbreak but the decision to vaccinate against the virus was not taken.
Over the seven and a half months of the epidemic, between February and September, more than 2,000 farms were infected. Many more had their animals culled because they were close to disease ridden farms.
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Huge pyres were lit to dispose of the carcasses, enveloping farms in foul smoke.
Countless farmers lost precious blood lines going back centuries, only to discover their animals were clean.
European vets banned British meat exports until February 2002.
The official inquest into how foot and mouth spread so quickly, the 2002 Anderson report, warned grimly: "We seem destined to repeat the mistakes of history." Dr Iain Anderson, the author of the "Lessons to be Learned Inquiry", wrote that many of the recommendations following the previous major foot and mouth outbreak, in 1967-8, were not properly implemented.
He said: "We seem destined to repeat the mistakes of history."
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