Japanese PM admits foot-and-mouth outbreak faults

Japan’s prime minister admitted fault today in the government’s efforts to contain a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, which is crippling farmers in a southern prefecture known for its prized beef.

The government has been criticised for being too slow to respond to the livestock outbreak in Miyazaki – Japan’s first since 2000.

Prime minister Yukio Hatoyama acknowledged today that the government should have acted sooner in a bid to contain the spreading outbreak.

“I think there are certain problems in terms of having done everything we could to prevent the expansion,” Mr Hatoyama told reporters.

He vowed Tokyo would do its utmost, including giving financial assistance to affected farmers.

The disease was detected in the southern area on April 20, and since then, authorities have killed 60,000 animals – 55,000 pigs and 5,000 cows.

Officials in Miyazaki said an additional 50,000 pigs and 4,000 cows are to be killed this week.

But the outbreak in Miyazaki prompted Japan to suspend all beef exports for at least three months.

The government has set up an emergency task force and is considering spending 100bn yen (€870m) to prevent the further spread of the disease and co-ordinate financial support for affected farmers.