Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
Hello Bill –

Yes, I think we all agree that FMD was in the Country long before February 2001. However, obtaining absolute proof of this has so far eluded us.

The Government has chosen to state the fact that they ordered timber etc in 2000, was part of their 'contingency plans'. However, they seriously failed in their duty by ignoring the 'contingency plan' they were supposed to put in place according to the EU, which included vaccination. (See the Booker/North Article 'Silence of the Damned' published in the Sunday Times and available at http://www.farmtalking.com/news_north_silence280702.html).

With regard to the tests – it is another 'myth' that they are not very good and although you received a negative result from the tests on your animals, the fact that you were told this did not necessarily mean disease was not present in your livestock, is not an indication that the tests are not extremely accurate, but rather an attempt by MAFF/SERAD/DEFRA to justify their slaughter of millions of 'healthy' animals on grounds of a very spurious 'maybe'.

The facts of the matter are, your animals were among the millions of others also healthy and uninfected, the test results prove that to be the case. DEFRA realised that for many farmers this would be devastating and therefore chose to ameliorate the news by suggesting this extremely unlikely possibility. (See also Dr. Paul Kitching's Definitive evidence at http://www.farmtalking.org/science_kiching_test.html).

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes – Jane