FMD - vigilance remains essential

Originally from: Susan Staunton
                        
FMD – vigilance remains essential

PRECISELY one year on from the first confirmed case of foot-and-mouth, the UK government is under pressure to take much tougher action against illegal meat imports, still thought to be the most likely cause of last year's epidemic.

That pressure was increased by spot checks at Heathrow last week when 319 kilos of illegal meat was found in suitcases on two flights from Africa.

Nick Brown, minister of agriculture in the opening, and worst, phase of last year's epidemic before being shunted to become minister of work, said yesterday: "People are right to say we need to be vigilant at points of entry both in personal imports of meatstuffs and meatstuffs that are smuggled in containers."

He said that the new Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had worked hard to reduce the threat, but, when asked if the UK was still vulnerable, he replied: "There is no doubt that the importation of illegal meat... does represent a vulnerability which goes with the globalisation of trade."

Dr Alex Donaldson of the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright, which advises DEFRA on disease control, said he was very concerned about the threat of illegal meat imports which increased the risk of highly contagious swine fever being brought into Britain, as well as foot-and-mouth.

He said: "We can do lots of things within the country, but if the back door is open, then we run the risk of a repetition. Whatever can be done should be done."

The Heathrow incident added weight to NFU Scotland's criticism this week that the government's illegal imports poster campaign at ports and airports was inadequate.

Jim Walker, the union's president, said that posters were simply not enough: "There has been no announcement of extra resources to check what is actually brought in and no announcement of extra resources to check commercial consignments.

"The government has failed to take seriously the threat we are all still under. Unless more resources are devoted to carrying out these checks, we remain at risk of foot-and-mouth returning and at risk from other animal or human diseases from anywhere in the world."

Government has also failed to produce a contingency plan if disease does re-appear, he said.

But in spite of the devastation of an epidemic which involved the slaughter of up to 10 million animals and cost several billion pounds, most farmers are re-stocking and re-starting.

Confirmation of much anecdotal evidence came from a telephone survey of 1,000 farmers, commissioned by DEFRA and published this week. It indicates that 78 per cent of farmers who had infected premises and 65 per cent classified as dangerous contacts would re-start.

Only 6 per cent of those classified as infected said that they were giving up. That compares with the unofficial finding by Dumfries and Galloway NFU that only one farmer in the area had decided to quit.

About 25 per cent of farmers in the DEFRA survey said they might diversify into non-traditional or non-farming activities and a small percentage said they might go organic. An unofficial finding among the 65 tenants of Buccleuch Estate in the Langholm area directly hit by foot-and-mouth is that only two have so far decided to diversify .

Fordyce Maxwell Rural affairs editor
Thursday, 21st February 2002
The Scotsman