Originally from: Farmtalking
                        
I would like to draw attention to this and as Mary has done so well on Warmwell. I entirely agree with her excellent comments and copy them below...

"Contingency Plan. Last chance to comment.
While few regular readers of warmwell are likely to be under many illusions about the nature of and motives for "consultations", there may be those who could still usefully – and more tactfully than warmwell – register to DEFRA their concerns about the latest Contingency Plan for FMD, now lumped together with the plans for avian influenza, Newcastle Disease and Clasical Swine Fever. Among points that may be worthy of comment:

Although the EU Directive authorises preventive culling of susceptible animals "should the epidemiological evidence support the hypothesis of virus contamination or incubating infection" it certainly does NOT authorise the killing of healthy animals in a firebreak cull – yet this persists in the Plan similarly, the concept – so vaguely defined – of "Dangerous Contacts" – can allow the indiscriminate slaughter of healthy stock.

The "problems" connected with vaccination are not veterinary ones.
This is not made clear the present nature of the so called "Expert Group" (4.58) – which is supposed to be independent and able to comment on and challenge policies from different standpoints of genuine expertise – is not in fact independent of DEFRA and not in the spirit of the Directive.

A failure adequately to include the available technological advances for rapid on-farm diagnosis and testing suggests either ignorance or incompetence.

A document for consultation of 308 pages of dense language is not helpful. There is a lack of clarity in the writing of the document and it is much too long for a general reader to get an accurate overview. If this is intentional and designed to reduce comment to a minimum, then it is disgraceful. If not, it is a measure of DEFRA's continuing inability to communicate with people most closely concerned.

The last day for comment on the latest FMD Contingency Plan is 15 June 2005."