Archive Article: 2001/02/22
22 February 2001
By Alistair Driver and Johann Tasker
A SIXTH case of foot-and-mouth disease is suspected in a beef bull at an abattoir in Guildford, Surrey, the Meat and Livestock Commission has confirmed.
Samples have been taken for diagnosis and a five-mile movement restriction zone was imposed around the slaughterhouse on Thursday (22 February).
Further information is scant, but experts are understood to be examining other livestock at the unnamed farm where the animal originated.
The next seven days will be crucial in determining the extent of the damage caused by the foot-and-mouth outbreak, according to farmers leader Ben Gill.
The president of the National Farmers Union made the comment after meeting agriculture minister Nick Brown on Thursday (22 February).
Events over the coming week will largely decide how quickly the ban on exports of British livestock, meat and dairy products is lifted, said Mr Gill.
The European Standing Veterinary Committee will now meet in Brussels on 27 February to discuss measures designed to control foot-and-mouth disease.
So far, the outbreak has been confirmed only at the Essex abattoir at the centre of the outbreak and an adjoining farm belonging to the same family.
However, four other farms which sent livestock to the slaughterhouse are under suspicion. Tests are being carried out and restriction zones are in place.
The highly contagious disease can spread rapidly throughout the countryside.
If this happens, UK farmers can expect to be constrained by movement restrictions and the export ban for a number of months.
Mr Gill met Mr Brown to discuss possible moves to contain the disease and examine a prompt lifting of restrictions.
MAFF officials are in the process of tracking down farms that have had contact with Cheale Meats, the Essex abattoir at the centre of the outbreak.
Mr Gill said farmers would do whatever it takes to stop the disease turning into the “complete catastrophe” of 1967 when 440,000 animals were slaughtered.
Earlier, he described the export ban on British meat and live animals as a necessary evil, saying: “It is like staring into the abyss.”
Mr Gill added: “It is in the interests of the whole of the British livestock industry that the spread of this disease is halted.”