FMD row labs escape prosecution

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The local authority said it had received legal advice it could not bring a prosecution against either the Institute of Animal Health (IAH) or private company Merial which share the site at Pirbright, because of a lack of evidence.

Livestock on eight farms in the Surrey area were infected with foot-and-mouth in August and September last year, probably due to live FMD virus being used to develop a vaccine leaking from faulty pipework and spreading from the site.

But a series of Government-commissioned reports were unable to pinpoint the exact source of the outbreak, which cost the UK farming industry millions of pounds.

Surrey County Council examined the possibility of bringing a prosecution on the grounds that the labs had breached their licence conditions by allowing the disease to escape.

But even if experts had been able to say exactly how the virus had been released, the council could not prove conclusively which lab had breached their licence because they shared the drainage system at the site.

The council called for tougher measures which would ensure that where two laboratories shared facilities, one should have ultimate responsibility and accountability for the site.

Officials said they also wanted to see individual directors held accountable and maximum fines increased from £5,000 or up to six months' imprisonment to reflect the seriousness of the situation.

The council was, until last month when the role was taken on by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), responsible for investigating and taking action over possible breaches of the licence given to the labs to use animal diseases.

Peter Denard, Surrey County Council's trading standards manager, said: "Because the two laboratories share the same facilities on the site, it hasn't been possible to pinpoint who was responsible for the outbreak."