Foot & Mouth

[Kim]

I know very little about farming either, I do feel desperately sorry for the farmers. Many have lost so much in the recent flooding. I just hope and pray this can be contained.

[Emm]

Originally Posted by yola

I know very little about cattle farming, but my understanding is that much of Europe/US vaccinates against foot and mouth . . . so why does the UK kill 1000s of cattle rather than vaccinating?

It bothered me the last time round, and I'm sure the argument is more complex, both medically and logistically but surely that's the most sensible solution???

yes it is the most sensible solution! I was devasted watching all those poor animals being slaughtered when all they had to do was vaccinate - they must have been terrified - and people also had to have pets slaughtered as well.

But they have said they will be vaccinating this time round - they won't make the same mistakes as last time.

[Emm]

just did a quick search about it and this is probably the reason for not vaccinating - again comes down to money -

"Currently, the OIE recognizes countries to be in one of three disease states with regards to FMD - FMD present with or without vaccination, FMD free with vaccination, and FMD free without vaccination. Countries that are designated FMD free without vaccination have the greatest access to export markets, so many developed nations, including Canada, the United States, and the UK, work hard to maintain their current FMD free without vaccination status."

taken from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_and_mouth

[yola]

Thanks for that info Emm. I had a horrible feeling that it was down to money. That's truly disgusting . . . too many animals and people have to suffer for it to be purely fiscal