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Call to vaccinate UK livestock
07/08/2001 09:48 - (SA)
London - Vaccination may have to be used to tackle any future outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, the man appointed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to help recovery in areas hit by the epidemic said on Tuesday.
Lord Christopher Haskins' comments in The Times newspaper come after months in which the government, while never ruling out
vaccination, repeatedly turned down calls for its use on the
grounds that it would damage Britain's agricultural export trade.
The Labour peer, named as rural recovery co-ordinator last week, said in an interview that farmers had been "mollycoddled" for too long, and repeated his call for a massive shake-up of agricultural subsidies which might halve the number of farms in the UK.
Haskins said that the experience of this year's mass slaughter meant that few countries would be willing to embark on a similar policy again.
The foot-and-mouth epidemic, now officially said to be under
control in most of Britain, broke out in February, devastating the farming industry and causing the slaughter of more than 3.6 million animals.
Haskins told the paper: "The macro view has changed. Vaccination would have to be considered very seriously now.
"The farmers argued that they would be unable to export their meat abroad. But they are not exporting much at the moment."
Haskins, head of the government's Better Regulation Taskforce, will co-ordinate efforts to identify measures to promote tourism and small business in Cumbria, northwest England, the county worst hit by foot-and-mouth.
His appointment followed pressure from farmers, business leaders and local authorities for recovery plans to be led by a high-level government representative.
He is due to hand over a report with proposals for action by
October.
His interview comes a day after a British government official
announced the foot-and-mouth crisis was projected to cost taxpayers about £2.2 billion in compensation.
Foot-and-mouth disease poses no risk to humans and is not always fatal in animals but is regarded as a major threat because it is highly contagious and renders livestock worthless. - AFP
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