HSE has no more details on how foot and mouth escaped from Pirbright

The Health & Safety Executive is yet to pass further information to government about how, if at all, the foot and mouth virus may have escaped from the animal disease research site at Pirbright.

A spokesperson for the HSE told Farmers Weekly that “as of 3pm today (9 August) we can not confirm that we will be passing further information to government concerning our investigation into the Pirbright site or that it will indeed be made public”.

The HSE published an initial report on Tuesday (7 August) which concluded further investigation was necessary.

The Prime Minister said later that he expected a further report on Wednesday (8 August) from the HSE regarding the situation at Pirbright. 

This report is yet to materialise.

For the latest developments see the FWi Special Report page