United Kingdom: foot and mouth outbreak causes international reaction

Sports events cancelled, passengers from outgoing flights from the UK being forced to walk through trays of disinfectant, a ban on livestock movements and the slaughter of tens of thousands of animals are the results of the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom. So far, the World Cross Country event in Ireland has been cancelled as have all the Irish league football matches. The British rally championship has been postponed in Wales and all horse events have been cancelled all over the United Kingdom. In Spain, the most important show-jumping event of the year, the Great Prize of Andaluzia, has been prohibited, along with all cattle fairs. In Belgium, the Moslem rite of sacrificing a lamb will possibly be prohibited, the same happening in France. In Portugal, passengers from flights from the UK are asked to walk through trays of disinfectant – except for VIP passengers, who obviously do not carry the disease! Even as far away as New Zealand, the authorities have taken special measures, inspecting people coming from the UK and banning imports of all agricultural products: “Any traveller can bring on his shoes or clothes traces of this infectious disease which could ruin the New Zealand agriculture”, said a spokesperson for the New Zealand government. So far, 3,000 sheep have been killed in the Netherlands, 1,500 in Germany and 20,000 in France. In the UK, the number of animals slaughtered already numbers tens of thousands but it is rising daily. Cases have now been registered in Belgium and Germany, as the disease spreads eastwards. These draconian measures prove the high state of alert around the world as a result to the situation in the UK: There are now 43 cases of foot and mouth, mainly in sheep, all over the country. Foot and mouth disease is a highly contagious virus, which affects sheep, cows, pigs and goats. It can be caught by humans, but incidence is extremely rare and it is not fatal, although uncomfortable. It causes high temperatures and ulcerous blisters on the feet and in the mouth. First symptoms in animals after an incubation period of one to two weeks are lack of appetite and saliva around the mouth. The only way to contain the disease is by slaughtering the animals, although the disease itself is not fatal. However, animals from herds which come into contact with the disease are forbidden by the veterinary authorities to be sold. The last major outbreak of this disease in 1967 caused 211,800 cows to be slaughtered and over 100,000 pigs and sheep. The current outbreak has already cost the UK over one billion pounds (1.5 billion USD). The Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr. Scudamore, states that he thinks the British authorities have taken the right measures and that the number of cases should rise for another week, then stop. Meanwhile, the supply of meat in some British supermarkets is showing signs of becoming exhausted, with shoppers panic buying in expectation of a lack of supply. Behind the current outbreak was the purchase of pig feed from Africa and Asia. There is now a call in the United Kingdom for meat to be supplied by local farms and to stop the practice of transporting feed and animals long distances. The more sophisticated agriculture becomes, the further away from nature it gets. Nature’s reaction is predictable and inevitable.

JOHN ASHTEAD PRAVDA.RU LONDON