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No vaccination despite another possible foot and mouth outbreak
Last updated at 12:52pm on 10.08.07Pressure was growing on the Government to vaccinate thousands of cattle against food and mouth disease as vets investigated a third outbreak.
If confirmed, the new case, at a farm in Wotton, near Dorking, will be the first outside the initial "surveillance zone".
However, Chief Veterinary Officer Debby Reynolds today said the Government had decided not to vaccinate cattle in the area, despite having team of vets ready to administer injections standing by.
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Map of foot and mouth spread from the original protection zone
"This is the seventh day of foot and mouth, and it is a critical one.
"From 6 August we have had vaccination centres up and running just outside the surveillance zone," she said.
"However, we have decided not to vaccinate at this time. It is a decision that is under constant review, and the vaccination centres will remain in place."
If cattle are vaccinated, under EU rules they could not be exported for six months. However, experts today warned the Government was running out of time.
The Soil Association wants Defra to use vaccination create a "firebreak" around a wider area of Surrey if a third case of the virus is confirmed.
Spokesman Patrick Holden said that in Holland in 2001, 100,000 animals were vaccinated against foot and mouth within three days, and after eight days it had been contained.
Mr Holden said: "In contrast, the UK which did not use vaccination (in 2001), took months to bring the disease under control, slaughtering and burning millions of animals with a cost to the taxpayer of over £8billion."
The Lib Dems' shadow Defra secretary Chris Huhne said vaccination "must be an option" if the third case is confirmed.
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Crisis: Pirbright is now the centre of the Legionnaires' investigation
Ms Reynolds today said further tests confirmed it was "very likely" the outbreak started at the Pirbright facility where the Institute of Animal Health and the private Merial lab are based.
Today a 3km temporary control area has been set up around undisclosed premises west of Dorking after an "inconclusive assessment" of foot and mouth symptoms in cattle, Defra said.
The farmer at the centre of the suspected third outbreak also owns the land in Normandy where the second outbreak occurred.
However, Lawrence Matthews said there had been no movement between the sites.
"Neither I or any of my staff have visited the Normandy land since the spring," he said.
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Hundreds of cattle have been culled as a result of the outbreak
The land in Normandy is rented out to John Gunner, the farmer who saw his entire herd culled earlier this week, Mr Matthews said.
A scientist investigating the outbreak today said police should be called in as biosecurity at Pirbright was so tight the disease had to have been spread deliberately.
Andrew King, a former department head of the Institute of Animal Health, said: "It has to be regarded as a bit fishy."
Meanwhile, the Great British Circus is being investigated after claims it moved reindeer and camels 60miles from Clacton- on-Sea to Rochford on Sunday, while animal movement restrictions were in place.
Circus owner John Bird said: "We didn't know about the ban."
Reader views (12)
Who knows how this dreadful scourge has been transmitted - possibly on the wind or through flood water. At this critical time we should be supporting the agencies who's job it is to try to contain the threat - rather than pointing the finger!
- Trevor Roll, London
I have yet to hear anyone speak on the issue of "why no vaccination"?
A flu epidemic would have the needles humming. What's the problem?
- Michael John Murphy, Brightlingsea, England
Another New Labour government bungle.
- Georgie, London
If this is being treated as a crime, then we have to wonder, who was to gain? The French moved immediately to ban all UK beef exports, and played up the dangers to UK meat products in response to this. As a result, quelle surprise, French farmers benefit a great deal. They were the first to ban UK meat last time, and the last to lift the ban, and even then they had to be forced to. When you consider acts like the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by French secret services, it is really not that far-fetched to imagine that the French could have orchestrated this.
- Thomas, Hereford
I don't know whether transporting the animal carcases to be incinerated poses any threat, but it would be nice to be told that such movements were being done under controlled and biologically safe conditions.
I feel for the farmers concerned, but also wonder whether all livestock in the zone should be culled. for each new case just adds to the time and worry window. Do we need, in this area, to change policy from "innocent until suspected infected" to a bigger stick of "cull them all for safety"?
And then cross our fingers.
- Naomi Sajeri, Manchester
I agree with Stuart. It is absolutely terrible that we should be facing another F&M outbreak. Those poor people whose livelihoods depend on their cows, sheep, pigs etc should be compensated 100% by the Govenment due to the lack of competence. My heart goes out to those people affected including the abattoir workers, butchers etc etc.
- Julia, London
I have a rather nasty feeling that the Government are beginning to fall into exactly the same trap as they did in 2001 of purely responding reflectively to developments rather than moving to positive and specific action.
Surely the key issue here is whether this is -or is not- a deliberate sabotage ?
- William Grierson, Kimpton, UK
The farmers should stop crying about 'their' animals. They don't care about the poor creatures, only seeing them as property to kill for profit. The poor cows are made constantly pregnant and have their babies snatched away from them at a couple of days old so that the mothers can produce milk for humans, not for their babies. Male calves, the unwanted by-product of the milk industry, are subjected to harrowing journeys to other countries to suffer for the demand for white-meat veal which is then imported into the UK. Thousands and thousands of animals in this country every day end up in slaughterhouses, surrounded by the stench of fear, blood and death before being killed themselves. That is the meat and milk industry. Farmers don't cry when they send the animals to the slaughterhouse for meat for profit, so they should stop their crocodile tears now.
- V, London, UK
If this were deliberate, perhaps it was the work of the anti-carnavore crowd? Destroy the supply to save the supply?
- Trunk, US
Just like asbestos you cannot see the fibres in the dust - just the destruction of lives before your eyes. In reality the incident at Pirbright is a kin to asbestos, it can be described as airbourne hazardous contamination and all that can be done to put safety measures in place should be. The farmers need to be protected for the future of English dairy production and that should include all parts of Britain having the support from the agencies who advise on such important matters.
- Pauline, Eastbourne, East Sussex
Behind the scenes government briefings blaming a French owned company leads me to suspect that years of underfunding at the government operated facility is really the cause. Years of government spin leads to no other conclusion.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
Surely if this is the fault of a Government agency of Merial, then they should be forced to compensate all of those in the livestock industry who are affected by the leak. Or alternatively the livestock industry should start a class action against incompetence. It would happen in any other situation
- Stuart W, London
