Vaccinate to re-start exports sooner

22 March 2001



‘Vaccinate to re-start exports sooner’

By Isabel Davies

A FOOT-AND-MOUTH vaccination policy would allow British farmers to resume exports sooner than under a slaughter policy, according to a new report.

Author Lawrence Woodward from the Elm Farm Research Centre argues that the ramifications of emergency vaccination were better for farmers.

The document, produced in preparation for a High Court challenge to the cull, was presented at a Soil Association briefing in London on Thursday (22 March).

Mr Woodward rejected the Government line that vaccinations should only be used as a last resort because of what they would mean for trade.

He said the Government could vaccinate in and around the worst-affected areas to get the disease under the control.

Ministers could still get disease-free status back after three months, so long as all animals which had been vaccinated were slaughtered.

Choosing not to slaughter vaccinated animals would mean disease-free status would not be returned until 12 months after the last case, he admitted.

However, he said there was scope for negotiating the time period with countries such as Holland and Germany which were sympathetic to vaccine use.

Mr Woodward suggested a vaccination exercise in Cumbria could be completed within five days and result in complete herd immunity within 10 days.

Helen Browning, chairman of the Soil Association, said there was now an urgent need to develop a “plan B” in order to reduce the spread of the disease.

She said slaughter had seemed correct at the start of the outbreak, but her view had changed because the disease was more virulent than first thought.

The slaughter policy was also having a devastating effect on farmers, tourism and the whole of society, she said.

“I certainly feel that the medicine is now doing more damage than the disease itself,” added Ms Browning.

The Soil Association also rejected claims that it is impossible to distinguish between antibodies from infected stock and antibodies from vaccinated animals.

Its says new tests have been developed, so this is no longer a problem.

The organisation estimates vaccinations could bring the disease under control within a matter of weeks.