It started with just a few cases in Cumbria. It seemed that it was a short outbreak which could potentially be contained. However, over the last few weeks foot and mouth disease has spread over many parts of the United Kingdom, and it is beginning to emerge abroad. The disease - which is not harmful to humans - affects cattle, making them impossible to sell. Naturally, this causes farmers to suffer huge financial loss, and this is why the disease is so severe.
Britain's Agriculture Minister, Nick Brown, insists that the situation is "under control" despite the fact that new cases continue to be announced every day. A government-led mass slaughter plan seeks to eradicate the disease by destroying infected cattle. Whilst this plan has come under criticism, Mr. Brown insists it is one of the only possible routes to take. Although hundreds of animals have already been slaughtered, the cull continues. Mr. Brown believes that "We need to get the time from original reportage to slaughter within that crucial 24 hours" ("http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/news...") for the plan to be at its most effective.
Meanwhile, The European Union has given it approval to "to vaccinate up to 180,000 cattle to help slow the spread of the disease in Cumbria county in north-western England and Devon in the south-west" (http://www.msnbc.com/news/543467.asp?cp1... However, farmers are opposed to any such vaccination plan. In the words of a Ministry of Agriculture, Farms and Fisheries spokesman, the reason the farmers are opposed to a mass vaccination is that there are "very serious disadvantages" to such a plan. ("http://itn.co.uk/news/20010402/britain/0...")
Reaction in the United States of America has been swift. The US Department of Agriculture is to issue new guidelines for imported dairy products. Vice President of regulatory affairs for the National Milk Producers Federation, Rob Byrne, said the new guidelines mean that the goods will be required to have been "properly heat-treated or aged to kill any foot and mouth virus that could have been transmitted from an infected animal". ("http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010402...").
In Britain, the financial problem of the crisis is growing for meat farmers. They not only face huge losses on culled livestock, but falling levels of purchases. The UK Vegetarian Society's director of public affairs, Samantha Calvert, said that the society has had "a huge increase in phone calls and 14,000 hits a day on our Web site from people asking for information on balancing diet and going vegetarian" since the outbreak of the disease. ("http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/01/world/..."). If these new vegetarians do not return to buying meat, then the farmers woes look set to continue for some time.
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