Britain found a suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease on a farm in southern England on Wednesday and immediately imposed an exclusion zone and had the herd in question culled.
A statement on the Agriculture Ministry’s website said an exclusion zone had been placed around the suspect farm in Egham, Surrey, about 50km from the scene of the last outbreak in August.
A government source told Reuters officials were determined to act quickly as farmers’ leaders warned that Britain’s agriculture industry would be ”devastated” if the case were confirmed. ”We are not taking any risks,” the source said.
Britain suffered a crippling outbreak of foot-and mouth-disease in 2001 when more than six million animals had to be culled. The outbreak hit agriculture and tourism hard, costing the economy an estimated £8,5-billion.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s official spokesperson said the government would impose a nationwide ban on the movement of livestock if tests on Wednesday confirmed a fresh outbreak.
He said test results were expected on Wednesday afternoon and the government’s emergency committee, Cobra, would meet at about 16h00 GMT.
The new suspected case comes less than 24 hours after European Union veterinary experts had agreed to declare Britain free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) from November 9 and lift a ban on all exports of British meat, dairy and live animals, which was imposed after FMD was found on two farms in Surrey in July and August.
That decision was immediately suspended on Wednesday as news of the new suspected case broke.
A spokesperson for the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said they viewed the news with ”extreme concern”.
The NFU’s president went further, saying: ”This is an absolute disaster.
”If it is confirmed, it puts us back to where we were on August 3,” he told BBC television. ”If the worst outcome is confirmed then the farming industry will be devastated.” — Reuters