Import controls fall very long way short
Import controls fall very long way short
The NFU has attacked the government for failing to strengthen import controls, claiming another outbreak of an animal or plant disease in the UK remains a "very real threat".
The 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak demonstrates "major inadequacies" in existing controls, the union said in a new report published on Monday (Feb 21).
The Lessons to be Learned report is the unions first full review of the handling of the disease outbreak. It accuses the government of being ill-prepared and at times incompetent, claiming there was "a catalogue of failures on every issue from import controls and contingency planning to communications".
The report will be used to feed information into the governments official inquiry on the matter.
NFU president Ben Gill said he found it "incredible" that 11 months after the F&M was first identified little had changed at Britains ports and airports.
The union wants a full review of EU legislation and controls covering animal and plant imports and more centralisation of responsibility in this area.
Mr Gill said one of the crucial problems with the handling of the F&M outbreak was the governments lack of contingency planning.
And what little planning was was in place did not fully take into account several of the conclusions made in the Northumberland Committee report, drawn up after the 1967 outbreak.
"The governments response to F&M in February 2001 showed an inherent lack of planning," said Mr Gill. "This not only exacerbated the spread of the disease and control, but meant the suffering by animals, farmers, the rural community and economy as a whole was far more severe than it needed to be."
While the union still backs the governments decision to control the disease by "stamping it out", it says the contiguous culling policy was applied too rigidly.
With regard to vaccination, it says the government must explore the circumstances in which alternative strategies could be used.
Mr Gill indicated he stood by his belief that at the time there were too many questions unanswered to go ahead with vaccination. But he added: "Vaccination should have been a tool. I wish it were a tool now."