Originally from: Natalie
                        
Mr. Morley said in the European Inquiry that any notion that the contiguous cull was not legal is wrong. – This is from the Western Morning News – Regards Natalie.

SCALE OF OUTBREAK SURPRISED MINISTERS

09:00 – 09 April 2002

The European Union is holding an inquiry into the foot and mouth disaster, even though the British Government has refused such an investigation.

A senior member of Government last night admitted that targets to cull livestock in 24 hours had not been met until well into the foot and mouth crisis.

Lord Whitty, Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), also admitted that the Government had not had a contingency plan for an outbreak "of this size".

He was being questioned by members of the European Parliamentary Committee in Strasbourg, set up to look at the foot and mouth crisis in Britain and the implications for the other member countries of the European Union.

Also appearing before the committee were Elliot Morley, Parliamentary Under Secretary at Defra, Exmoor farmer Guy Thomas Everard, who won a legal battle to stop his livestock being culled, National Farmers' Union president Ben Gill and Alan Richardson, a vet who worked during the outbreaks of 1967 and 2001.

When questioned by South West Conservative MEP Neil Parish about whether targets, laid down by Government veterinary advisors were reached, Lord Whitty acknowledged they were not met at the height of the crisis.

"What we have learned is that in an epidemic of this size we have to have a different sort of contingency plan," he replied.

At one point, he said of the culling delay: "I am aware that in the worse case scenario in March it could be as long as seven days."

Later, he added that some of the delays had been for topographical reason and "some of it was due to disputes", referring to farmers who refused to have their apparently healthy stock culled.

He also said that if every farmer had acted like Mr Thomas Everard and refused the cull, the disease would have spread much more dramatically.

Earlier, the Exmoor farmer had told the committee that his family was bullied and intimidated by Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food staff, and that they had learned their stock would be culled via a press conference to the media.

Mr Parish asked whether such bullying tactics would be employed to enforce the proposed Animal Health Bill, which has currently been delayed by the House of Lords.

Mr Morley said that if the Bill did not go through, then the Government would consider taking "emergency powers" to deal with the disease if it broke out again. He added that he believed vaccination should be considered as result of Britain's experience of one of the world's worst outbreaks. Mr Morley also said any notion that the contiguous cull was not legal was wrong.

"It was absolutely legal in line with European law and also it was actually tested in the UK courts," he added.

Both ministers acknowledged that illegal meat imports were a problem and said measures were being taken to curb the practice.

Lord Whitty said: "There has been an increase in priorities rather than the number of staff. We have clearly identified a problem both in commercial and personal imports."

The NFU president came under fire for not backing a vaccination policy. He was accused by Green MEP Dr Caroline Lucas of feeding members "myths and half-truths". He had said that a number of his members were concerned that it would create a two-tiered system of food and customers would not buy vaccinated meat.

Mr Parish said that last year, Britain imported 70,000 tonnes of meat from Argentina, a country which vaccinates its livestock as foot and mouth disease is endemic, and none of it had been labelled specifically.

Mr Gill said that he believed he had been simply representing the views of his members. He called for international co-operation to fight against diseases like foot and mouth. He said only "co-ordinated global scanning" could protect against the spread of major animal infections in future. Diseases like this know no boundaries.

He went on: "It is important that predictive modelling and surveillance is used to provide a detailed and up-to-date picture of infectious diseases around the globe as they occur and develop."

The NFU president used the inquiry to repeat calls for rapid diagnosis of suspect cases when animal diseases occur and the introduction of tried and tested contingency plans in anticipation of outbreaks. "An immediate and effective strike is crucial in the control of a disease like foot and mouth. We have learnt to our cost the price of delay during the all important first stages of the fight."

The cross-party committee of MEPs has already taken evidence from former Agriculture Minister Nick Brown and the Government's chief veterinary officer Jim Scudamore, who both insisted that the Government's response when the crisis broke out last year was swift and effective.

The committee has no legal powers but is expected to draw up recommendations on how to improve EU-wide handling of such diseases in future. The inquiry is expected to continue until later this year.