- Hello Jeff - I think you will find the following
very enlightening. People are starting to believe that the so-callled
origin site may not be ground zero.
-
-
- 1. Date: 1 May 2001
From: Pig Disease Information Center
meredith@farmline.com
Source: Evening Chronicle, 1 May 2001 [edited] Link
-
- Stuart Renton, a vet for almost 30 years, who works out
of the Newcastle FMD centre in Kenton Bar, Newcastle, launched a scathing
attack on his employers, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
(MAFF).
-
- He said he and many other vets working for MAFF believe
Mr Waugh is innocent after the Government's charge the epidemic
"probably"
started on the Northumberland pig farm. And MAFF has steadfastly blamed
Mr Waugh's pig farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall as the "likely source"
of the outbreak which they say started between 15 Feb and 23 Feb
2001.
-
- Renton blasted the Government for adopting the wrong
policies to deal with the outbreak. They have made our work extremely
harrowing,"
he said.
-
- The 50-year-old North East vet's contract with the Maff
may now be on the line for daring to tell what he believes is the truth.
Throughout the entire FMD epidemic MAFF vets have not been allowed to speak
out about the crisis.
-
- Instead any official comment has only come from the MAFF
press office in London, its chief scientist Professor David King or
Agriculture
Minister Nick Brown.
-
- But today Mr Renton says he has seen enough evidence
of "old" FMD sores on infected sheep to convince him the disease
was present in the UK long before then.
-
- Dr Renton said: "Long standing FMD lesions are being
found in sheep nationally, indicating the disease was probably present
before the initial outbreak in Heddon. We are still getting pockets of
infection in sheep which we cannot trace back to Heddon."
-
- Dr Renton has been part of the MAFF team diagnosing and
overseeing the destruction of animals since taking on a case at Black
Callerton,
Westerhope on 26 Feb 2001.
-
- He said, "Along with a number of the veterinary
surgeons involved, I have serious doubts over the culling policies being
adopted by Government, which makes our work in this outbreak extremely
harrowing," he said. "And from day one MAFF has been terribly
under-resourced to cope. I knew when I took on case number 10 on February
26 that we were on the edge of a disaster and it's being playing catch-up
ever since."
-
- MAFF said it was "unfortunate" one of its vets
should choose to speak to the press. "We will investigate this
immediately,"
said a spokeswoman.
-
- Although Mr Renton's contract with MAFF could be
terminated
by his decision to speak out. Alternatively, it is unlikely he will lose
his job because of a shortage of replacement vets.
-
- Until today MAFF has stuck to an official line issued
by Agriculture Minister Nick Brown that: "It is likely the outbreak
originated at a pig farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall in
Northumberland."
-
- But today a MAFF spokeswoman distanced the Government
department from that statement and claimed it had never said the outbreak
"definitely started" at Mr Waugh's pig farm.
-
- -- Pig Disease Information Centre
Meredith@farmline.com
-
- *****
-
- 2. Date: 5 May 2001
From: ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
Source: BBC, 3 May 2001 [edited]
-
- UK Winning Animal Virus Fight -
Blair
-
- UK Prime Minister Tony Blair says the program to
eradicate
foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has "entered the home straight."
Britain has culled more than 2 million animals in an attempt to rid itself
of FMD and the average number of new cases has dropped from 50 a day at
the height of the epidemic to 8. More than 1 500 cases in British livestock
have been confirmed since it first broke out in late February [2001], with
26 cases in the Netherlands, 2 in France and one in Ireland.
-
- "We are getting the disease under control...but
it is not over yet," Blair told a news conference in his Downing
Street
office.
-
- The government's chief scientific adviser, Professor
David King, who for some weeks has been predicting that the disease would
be drawing to a close by the summer, said he remained convinced the
epidemic
was "fully under control." Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said
evidence suggested the disease peaked at the end of March. But the
government
was cautious. The government had caught up with the backlog of dead animals
awaiting disposal in Devon, the county in southwestern England that was
one of the hardest-hit areas, Blair added.
-
- Brown said the government expected to spend GBP 600
million
(US $820 million) to compensate farmers for slaughtered animals. The
Ministry
of Agriculture said 2.4 million animals had been slaughtered, with 59 000
still awaiting disposal. Another 100,000 animals were awaiting slaughter.
The number of animals culled represented 2.5 percent of the nation's herds,
Brown said.
-
- Blair also praised the army which he mobilized to help
dispose of the carcasses. "It has probably been the biggest peacetime
logistical challenge that the army has faced," Blair said. "The
scale of combating foot-and-mouth disease has far exceeded, for example,
the logistical demands even of the Gulf War."
-
- -- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
-
- *****
-
- 3. Date: 5 May 2001
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org
Source: The Telegraph, 5 May 2001 [edited] Link
-
- A fresh outbreak of foot and mouth in Somerset, an area
declared free of the disease 12 days ago, could be "very serious"
and may spread to Exmoor, a Ministry of Agriculture official warned
yesterday.
-
- Cattle at a farm in Wiveliscombe were confirmed as having
the disease on Wednesday. 2 other cases at nearby Shodden were confirmed
in the past 2 days.
-
- MAFF was trying to trace the movements of a self-employed
agricultural contractor, who has visited 15 farms in the area in the course
of his work in recent weeks, and may have unwittingly spread the
disease.
-
- Meanwhile, the local tourism industry was facing a bleak
Bank Holiday weekend. Plans to re-open some footpaths in Exmoor have been
postponed as a result of the outbreaks. All footpaths have already been
closed for several weeks.
-
- Before the new outbreak Somerset had only had 1
previously
confirmed case.
-
-
- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
-
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