Foot-and-Mouth Disease:   RBI report 4:   3 July 2001

Lawrence Alderson, RBI Secretariat

Following is a status report of Foot-and-Disease in the U.K.  You will see that the threat has not been eliminated.  This underlines the continued importance of the conservation efforts of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, especially in the enhancement of the ALBC Gene Bank.Your contribution is critical to ALBCÂs efforts. Please make a donation to support the Gene Bank at http://www.albcusa.org/supportalbc/support.html .
If you are not already a member of ALBC, please join at http://www.albcusa.org/member/member.html

This report on the FMD UK/2001 (N0. 4) is long overdue. Report No. 3 was written in early May, at which time the outbreak was apparently declining in line with official predictions. Subsequent developments have revealed that the predictions probably were motivated more by political expediency than by sound science. In the last month the disease has demonstrated that it remains a serious ongoing threat to the livestock industry.

Progress of the outbreak

Statistics

Published Government statistics indicate that approximately 3.5 million animals have been slaughtered. Other estimates indicate that the true figure may approach 10 million. At the end of May MAFF admitted unofficially that total losses probably were in the region of 8 million. The official figures have been modified by a change in procedures for recognising confirmed cases, and by the exclusion of losses from ¯contiguous farms, ¯slaughter on suspicion cases, and welfare slaughter, and by the practice of including young animals as one unit with their dam.

New outbreaks

While the number of average daily new cases has declined, the disease has appeared in recent weeks in new areas. There have been serious and intensive outbreaks in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and Somerset, while it continues to rumble on in previous hot-spots such as Cumbria, Durham and Devon. It is now expected that the outbreak will continue for several months. Re-stocking of many infected farms will be delayed into 2002, and exports of livestock and livestock products from UK are not yet near the agenda.

Testing for antibodies

The greatest threat to livestock which have survived the slaughter policy lies in the current policy of testing for antibodies. This is a national programme, and where antibodies are detected the premises will be treated as an infected farm. We must face the possibility of a new wave of slaughter, but at present it seems that the incidence of antibodies is much lower than expected. 

Final effect

Livestock industry

The effect on the industry is likely to be a reduction of maybe 20-30% in the number of breeding animals, resulting from the slaughter policy augmented by departure from the industry of farmers who have experienced losses (both financial and psychological) which are too great to overcome.

In this context the FMD outbreak has assisted the wish of Government to reduce the livestock population of UK, and it has locked-in the reduction by taking quota for beef and sheep out of the system. It is anticipated that maybe 50,000 people will leave the farming industry, and many who remain will be concerned more with the maintenance of the rural environment than with the production of livestock.

Breeds of special genetic importance

Most breeds of special genetic importance have escaped without serious loss at the time of writing. The most severe threat has been to breeds with special adaptation to a local environment. For example, Rough Fell and Lonk sheep exist mainly in the restricted area in which they evolved, and both are now hot-spots. RBI is monitoring the situation closely in both cases. The situation regarding other breeds of special genetic importance, such as Herdwick and British Milksheep, Belted Galloway cattle and British Lop pigs has been reported previously.

New initiatives

The FMD outbreak, following on the heels of BSE, has raised awareness among livestock producers of their vulnerability to unfavourable policy decisions by both Government and some leaders of the farming industry. As a result, actions are being taken to anticipate future problems of this nature. First, the creation of Gene Banks for all breeds will act as an insurance against future disasters, and RBI is closely involved in these developments. Second, co-operation throughout Europe by the formation of a European ¯livestock alliance will provide a platform to ensure that damaging policies can be resisted.

Government structure

Possibly as a result in part of the FMD outbreak, a new department has been created in place of MAFF. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) indicates the changing emphasis of Government policy with a clear shift away from production towards the consumer and the environment. 

Vaccination

Global situation

At the present time outbreaks of both the ¯OÂ type and ¯AÂ type of FMD are occurring in different parts of the world. The ¯OÂ type is found in UK, Kuwait, Qatar, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The ¯AÂ type is found in Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. The widespread nature of the disease, and its ease of transmission, increase the likelihood of greater frequency of outbreaks in the future, and this strengthens the argument for the use of vaccination as a control measure.

Body of opinion

Since my last report, the volume and power of opinion favouring the use of vaccination has continued to increase. RBI has argued for vaccination since the early stages of the outbreak, in conjunction with other bodies such as the Soil Association. A few days ago I had a meeting with Dr Barteling and Dr Sutmoller who confirmed the wastefulness of the policy of mass slaughter. A large body of veterinary surgeons in UK also favours the use of vaccination, and Dr Paul Kitching has been able to express similar sentiments following his departure from Pirbright to Canada.

Post-mortem

Public Inquiry

There is increasing demand in UK for a public inquiry into the outbreak of FMD and the methods of control. The call for a public inquiry has come not only from non-political sources such as veterinary surgeons and the Trading Standards Institute, but also from Members of Parliament including the Chairman of the Agriculture Select Committee.

The major concerns relate to the competence of the overall policy and programme of control of the outbreak, the legality/illegality of mass slaughter as a method of control, and the efficiency of slaughter methods.

Legality

Already the legality of the programme has been challenged successfully in the UK courts, and further hearings are in progress. It is expected that there will be a series of claims for damages from farming and other businesses which have suffered during the outbreak. Compensation payments have been made only in respect of animals slaughtered as a direct consequence of FMD, but other farmers have received no compensation. In the case of those who suffered as a result of movement restrictions, this might represent a significant level of compensation.

Cost

At this stage it is difficult to quantify the total cost of the outbreak. Its effect goes a long way beyond the livestock industry into small rural businesses, tourist industry, and even into the national economy. Compensation paid for slaughtered stock totals only circa £1 billion, which is roughly equivalent to the annual value of livestock exports, but many current estimates put the total cost in the region of £20 billion.

Next steps

This probably will be my final report on the FMD UK/2001 outbreak. I anticipate that the public inquiry (if it is agreed by the Government) will deal in detail with all relevant aspects. Meanwhile, there is likely to be a series of legal actions which lie outside my brief, but I will present a paper on the outbrak at the meeting of RBI in Budapest on 23 August 2001.