MEPs query foot-and-mouth slaughter

5 April 2001



MEPs query foot-and-mouth slaughter

By Philip Clarke, Europe editor

EURO-MPs have called for an immediate review of the “slaughter rather than vaccinate” policy against foot-and-mouth and a search for alternative solutions.

In particular, they want the Brussels to step up the development of a marker vaccine to differentiate between injected animals and those which are infected.

One argument against vaccination is the difficulty in telling apart infected and vaccinated animals, which would jeopardise exports to disease-free countries.

The vote by the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday (5 April) saw a massive 415-19 in favour of a review, with 27 abstentions.

It followed lengthy debate on Tuesday in which many MEPs spoke of their dismay at the mass slaughter of animals, especially healthy stock.

Instead, they want ring-vaccination as an option for areas with foot-and-mouth, as well as the vaccination of special breeds of animal.

But, to some extent, these provisions exist already.

Brussels has already given the Netherlands permission to vaccinate in a zone around the area where most of its 15 cases have occurred.

But chances of a more widespread vaccination policy seem slim.

The issue was debated at the last farm council in March, and there was a clear view that general vaccination presented more problems than answers.

The MEPs also called for strict limits on animal transport distances, tighter controls on food imports and greater restrictions on pigswill.

In a further vote, this time on animal feed, the parliament demanded that the exact percentages of all feed ingredients should appear on bag labels.

The council had previously agreed that feed manufacturers should only have to declare ingredients within percentage bands.

This legislation requires joint agreement between the council and parliament, and some tough conciliation negotiations are anticipated.