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Britain tries to stem F&M
05/08/2007 08:00 - (SA)
London - Britain tried to contain an outbreak of highly infectious foot and mouth on Saturday, culling cattle at a farm outside London to prevent a repeat of the ruinous damage caused by the disease six years ago.
The environment ministry said the strain of the virus found in infected cattle in the county of Surrey, southwest of London, was one not recently found in animals.
"It is most similar to strains used in international diagnostic laboratories and in vaccine production, including at the Pirbright site shared by the Institute of Animal Health (IAH) and Merial Animal Health Ltd, a pharmaceutical company," the ministry said in a statement.
The Pirbright site is a few kilometres from the infected area and is used to test foot and mouth samples.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown broke off his holiday to return to London and chair an emergency meeting of senior ministers.
The European Commission said it had banned all live animal exports from Britain, as well as meat and dairy products from the infected area. Further restrictions could be brought in after EU veterinary experts meet on Wednesday.
The United States, which already has restrictions on imports of cattle and sheep from Britain due to other health scares, said it would also ban imports of pork and pork products.
Keen to avoid a repeat of the government's much-criticised response to the 2001 crisis, Brown said officials would work "day and night" to stem the outbreak identified on Friday.
Authorities set up a protection zone round the infected farm that included the Pirbright site.
Movement of all pigs, sheep and cattle throughout the
country was banned as a further precautionary measure.
Britain's chief veterinarian said earlier the exact strain of foot and mouth was still being identified by scientists and that it was too early to say if the disease could be contained
to one farm. She said reports of other foot and mouth infections
were being investigated but would not say how many or where.
"It's only 24 hours into foot and mouth disease 2007 - it is far too soon to say what the possible extent of the spread of this virus may be," Debby Reynolds told a news conference.
Despite the precautions, Ireland announced it was banning the import of British meat, livestock and non-pasteurised milk, and said it would not export live animals to Britain either.
Depending on how long the EU and US bans remain in place, the impact on British agriculture could be profound.
Industry experts said British exports of livestock and meat were worth about $30m a week.
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