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Pressure grows to vaccinate cattle in foot and mouth war
Last updated at 12:37pm on 11.08.07Pressure is growing on the Government to vaccinate thousands of cattle to halt the spread of foot and mouth disease.
As beleaguered farmers prepared for another weekend of uncertainty, ministers were accused of ignoring the lessons from the 2001 disaster by refusing to inoculate livestock close to infected areas.
That mistake - later admitted by the Government - led to millions of animals being needlessly slaughtered.
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Warning signs at Laurence Matthews' farm
There was some good news today though as tests on animals at the farm at the centre of the latest foot and mouth scare came back negative, and the temporary control zone set up around it has been lifted.
A 3km zone was set up around Manor Farm, Wotton, near Dorking in Surrey, which was outside the existing surveillance area, sparking fears that the disease had spread.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: "Tests in the temporary zone have proved negative and the temporary zone has been lifted."
Yesterday the chief vet, Dr Debby Reynolds, ruled out emergency vaccination for the time being, and a report into the outbreak said the risk of the disease spreading out of Surrey was "low".
The report also found the most likely source of the outbreak was the Pirbright lab site, used by vaccine manufacturer Merial and the state-run Institute for Animal Health.
Since the first case of foot and mouth disease was found last Friday, two farms have been infected and 576 cattle, pigs, sheep and goats culled.
A 3km (1.8mile) protection zone and a 10km (six-mile) surveillance zone have been set up around the farms and the Pirbright labs.
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The 'most likely source of the outbreak' is the Pirbright lab site, used by vaccine manufacturer Merial and state-run Institute for Animal Health
Although the Government says more outbreaks are possible, the refusal to vaccinate is the latest sign that it believes the worst of the outbreak is over.
Last week, it eased the ban on the movement of livestock to allow farmers to take animals to slaughter. Yesterday it allowed them to bury animals in the protected zones.
Patrick Holden, the head of the Soil Association, said there was concern at the reluctance to vaccinate.
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Hundreds of cattle have been culled - 300 at one farm were later found not to have been infected
"There is no good reason why they don't vaccinate," he added. "In Holland in 2001 they had a single outbreak and their response was to vaccinate all livestock in the surrounding area. That ring-fence vaccination stopped the disease.
"Given the damage that the disease - and the fear of the disease - are doing to Britain, it is the obvious thing to do."
Britain's science academy, the Royal Society, also supports vaccination, as does the pressure group Compassion in World Farming. But some farmers oppose vaccination.
British meat exports get a disease-free certificate only three months after the last death of an animal from foot and mouth. If animals are vaccinated, it takes another three months.
Critics also say that vaccines can mask the spread of the disease. Although inoculated livestock do not show symptoms, they can carry the disease and pass it on.
There were fears yesterday that the disease could have spread outside the surveillance zone.
A 3km "temporary control zone" went up around Lawrence Matthews' farm at Wotton, near Dorking, after he raised concerns about the health of 65 calves. However, Mr Matthews said his vet was certain the calves did not have foot and mouth.
Defra announced that more than 300 cows, pigs, sheep and goats culled at Hunts Hill Farm, Willey Green, were free from the disease.
Gordon Brown said Britain is "open for business" following the outbreak.
"We have restricted the disease to a limited area of this country. The risk of it spreading out of these areas is low if not negligible," he added.
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