Scotsman
2001.04.16

Senseless sacrifice or vaccination?

If not now, when? And if not when, what will be left of Britain’s livestock industry? With every day the case for vaccination grows, and in proportion to the number of animals awaiting slaughter (541,000) and disposal (408,000): a grand total of almost one million. Last week, senior epidemiologists warned that up to one-third of Britain’s livestock could be affected by the foot-and-mouth crisis unless the veterinary report-to-slaughter times are met. Yet so overwhelmed has MAFF become by the yawning logistics of its slaughter policy that the devastating implication of that warning seems quite lost on it: that there is little point in sticking with the present policy if it is being carried out too slowly. 

Vets complain about being kept waiting too long for officials’ decisions. Up to date figures are now slow to appear on the MAFF website. And, as Lady Emma Tennant, who farms in the Borders, made clear with eloquent passion at the weekend, the figures when released tend to mask the full scale of the disaster now unfolding. MAFF talks of numbers of outbreaks, but does not say how many farms, including those in the 1.8-mile cull zones, have been afflicted. But when two farms near Jedburgh succumbed, they took down with them 26 other farms and 26,000 healthy sheep.

As this horrific slaughter mounts, the Agriculture Secretary, Nick Brown, shows little inclination to speed up his response. For almost three weeks he has been inching towards a policy of qualified vaccination. It is like watching a centipede with cramp. Even at the end of last week he was still describing vaccination as "a strategy I am still attracted to", as if he was some emeritus professor of rural studies for whom the passage of time is of no consequence. 

Vaccination would at the least provide vital firewalls in worst-affected areas such as the Borders, Cumbria and Devon. But the official farmers’ lobbies, including the Scottish NFU, remain opposed. This opposition is mistaken on two counts. First, it makes light of the powerful arguments put forward for vaccination by Dr Keith Sumption, a veterinary expert from Edinburgh University. His analysis has been dismissed on the basis of grotesque misquoting of his evidence to the Scottish executive Rural Development Committee. The second is that understandable concern over the desire to preserve the disease-free status of Scottish beef exports is now quite overshadowed by the sheer magnitude of the disaster now upon us. The UK has effectively lost its disease-free status in the process and that is likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future. So what is to be gained by staying with a policy that has landed us with an economic and logistical nightmare, with literally hundreds of thousands of uninfected animals being slaughtered? 

The all-too-plausible nightmare that haunts the Scottish farming community is that the government will stick to the policy of slaughter to the bitter end, only to find that the EU performs a U-turn and abandons its official embargo on vaccination. Indeed, there are clear signs that that is now happening, with news that Germany has joined France and Holland in vaccination. British farming is heading for a senseless sacrifice. Mr Brown must now act - and swiftly.

There is NO CopyRight on this document, which is one of many 1,000s of items freely available on http://www.SilentMajority.co.UK [some 8Mbs.] & 10s of 1,000s of items on The SilentMajority CD [with over 40Mbs.] which contains the entire web site, 1,000s of apposite quotations, Articles, Speeches, ArtWork, & The FULL text of The EU Treaties, Several Related Books, The British Constitution, The American Constitution & Numerous related Items.
SilentMajority nor any associate thereof does NOT vouch for the veracity of the documents hosted on its site or CD nor any foreign language documents thereon & advises you consult your own solicitor on legal details as we do not accept liability for nor presume to give legal advice ourselves.
For a copy of the CD please mail payment of £20.00 for UK deliver or £25.00 for ALL other Countries payable to:
Greg Lance – Watkins,
Glance Back Books,
17 Upper Church Street,
CHEPSTOW,
NP16 5EX
Monmouthshire,
GREAT BRITAIN
For delivery of 2 x CDs
one for your own use
and one for on selling or donation to an individual of influence (media, politician, activist etc.)

IF YOU wish to use the Material Above, which is freely provided
Please have the Courtesy to Print It out in its entirety from start to finish with NO alterations, as displayed.
To This Point