Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-17-Speech-2-018"
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"en.20021217.1.2-018"2
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"Mr President, bad farming practice was the root cause of the foot and mouth outbreak. Pigs were fed improperly treated swill, which was bad farming practice. Diseased pigs were not reported – bad farming practice. Neighbouring sheep became infected. Bad farming practice was compounded by stupidity when pigs which no longer showed physical symptoms but could still transmit the disease were sent to an abattoir. Other animals became infected and this delayed the identification of the source of the outbreak. The outbreak farm was so severely infected that it was six months before it was safe to disinfect it.
Bad farming practice led to a situation where the disease was spreadeagled over 57 farms in 16 counties by the time its presence was confirmed. The result was the worst foot and mouth outbreak ever recorded, well beyond the contingency planning of any Member State.
The report does not shirk the horrendous consequences to farmers and to rural businesses, the heartache, the trauma and the financial losses. Nor does the report shirk the operational problems faced by government. No one pretends that there were not mistakes of policy and failures in implementation, but the lessons-to-be-learned inquiry clearly shows that decisions made were justified by the available evidence at the time. The report is particularly good – indeed it is its main strength – on the measures needed to combat any future outbreak. Of special importance is the need for effective monitoring of animal movements and traceability.
That said, regrettably the report contains errors of fact. These relate to the legality and effectiveness of the contiguous cull. They also relate to allegations of animal welfare abuses and to biosecurity lapses allowing further spread of the disease. Eight amendments have been tabled to correct these errors.
As the Chair said so revealingly during the committee vote, we are not dealing with reality. Hearsay and hindsight have been the chief witnesses. The reality is that the contiguous cull was legal. It was legal under UK law; it was legal under European law. The cull was an essential weapon in bringing the disease under control. Vaccination would not have worked in the UK situation.
The reality is that the heroic efforts of government officials, veterinarians, farmers, police, the military and many others brought the disease under control more quickly than the smaller outbreak in the UK which occurred in 1966-68. That was the reality."@en1
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