Foot and mouth scare puts farmers on alert

FARM leaders in Ireland yesterday warned that a possible new leak of foot and mouth disease in Britain was a matter of great concern.

The British government said the highly contagious virus might have escaped through a leaking valve at the Merial research facility in Pirbright in Surrey.

However, the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn also told the House of Commons that inspectors had been assured the virus had not been released into the environment.

He said extensive layers of bio-security required under a licence issued to Merial effectively contained the virus in a closed, relined drainage system before deactivation in a chemical treatment facility.

Mr Benn said his department had suspended Merial’s licence allowing the use of foot and mouth and blue tongue viruses for vaccine production.

He also announced that an inspection team would produce a full report to Britain’s Acting Chief Veterinary Officer. “We will then consider what further action needs to be taken,” he said.

The Pirbright site was the source of the foot and mouth outbreak in August.

Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president Padraig Walshe said that farmers here would be extremely concerned about the potential risk to the British and European livestock sector from such an incident.

Malcolm Thompson, president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA), said the latest bio-security lapse at the Pirbright site was incredible.

“I have said before, and I’ll say it again now, the Pirbright labs should be relocated to a secure environment,” he said.