Claims British erred over disease
The former Ministry of Agriculture underestimated the risks posed by the epidemic and failed to plan for the crisis, the Public Accounts Committee said in the report.
It called for better preparation for any future outbreak.
The committee said that the estimated £3bn (4.7bn) cost of the crisis could have been cut by half if the government had called a national ban on livestock when the disease was first detected, the BBC said.
About 8% of Britain’s livestock was slaughtered after the virus broke out in February 2001.
The crisis also caused a drop in the number of visitors to the British countryside as foreign visitors stayed away and footpaths were closed to the public.
The government should have followed the example of the 1967 outbreak, when the army was called in at an early stage to deal with the crisis, according to the report.
The British government also failed to protect the tourism industry as well
as the agriculture industry, the BBC cited the report as saying.
