British farmers query foot-and-mouth announcement

UK farmers are questioning the British Government's announcement that the country is officially foot-and-mouth disease free.

A number of farms nationwide say they still have legal notices prohibiting them from re-stocking until thorough cleansing procedures are completed.

The most high-profile farm in the entire crisis has yet to be given the all-clear.

British government scientists believe Burnside Farm in Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, was the first farm in the country to contract the disease.

Positive confirmation of the virus was made on February 23, 2001, but it still has not been fully disinfected.

Neighbouring farmer Jim Brown of Heddon View Farm, who lost 500 pigs and 40 cattle during the crisis, said: "How can they say we are disease-free when that place is not cleared out. They are not finished cleaning up and if they are not finished cleaning up how can it be disease-free?"

A Defra spokesman confirmed that Burnside Farm was still subject to an A Form notice.

The farm had undergone preliminary cleansing and disinfecting but still had to have final processes before the Form A restrictions were removed, he said.

Britain's National Farmers Union described the all-clear announcement as a "morale boost".

A spokesman said: "The farmers are right in saying it is too easy to be euphoric but we have always said it is a step forward. It is a morale boost. But there are still earnest restrictions on livestock importing."