Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-14-Speech-3-243"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20030514.10.3-243"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
". – Mr President, I am pleased to be here to discuss the Commission’s proposal for a new directive on Community measures for the control of foot and mouth disease.
This proposal aims to provide greater flexibility to the Member States in their choice of the most appropriate control strategy under particular socio-economic conditions, thus conferring more responsibility for the measures applied, notably in relation to compliance with relevant public health and environmental requirements.
Our fundamental position on prophylactic vaccination for FMD remains unchanged. This position reflects the current status of vaccine development, the divergent nature of the causative virus and the serious trade implications any turn towards prophylactic vaccination would provoke.
Stamping out of infected animals and those likely to promulgate the disease remains the principal method to effectively counteract any outbreak.
However, we have learned, not least thanks to the excellent work of your Temporary Committee, that the massive killing of apparently healthy animals raises major public concern about the ethics and economics of today’s animal husbandry and disease control measures, and their repercussions on rural communities.
The Commission’s proposal, therefore, marks a shift of emphasis of the available control measures to promote emergency vaccination from an instrument of last resort to the forefront of the available control methods.
The Commission is fully aware that protecting the current animal health status is a very challenging objective, given globalisation of trade, frequent movement of persons, the nature of the virus and the fact that it is endemic in large parts of the world.
The proposal therefore includes also provisions on the Community antigen bank, diagnostic laboratories and contingency planning, in order to ensure a high level of disease preparedness.
I am grateful to the European Parliament for having carefully studied our proposal. I look forward now to your discussion of the report."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples