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This from the New York Times Website. A Reuters article.
February 27, 2001
EU Vets Extend UK Foot - and - Mouth
Export Ban
By REUTERS
Filed at 10:43 a.m. ET
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union veterinary specialists
decided Tuesday to extend to March 9 a ban on British livestock
exports over foot-and-mouth disease that has brought the country's farming
sector to a halt.
``There is an extension of the measures until March 9,'' an EU
official told reporters, adding that they would be reviewed at a further EU
vets' meeting on March 6 and 7.
A member of the powerful Standing Veterinary Committee, made
up of member state's chief veterinarians, said the panel was
satisfied with the controls imposed by the British authorities.
``The measures taken by Britain are tough enough,'' Anders
Engvall from Sweden's National Veterinary Institute added.
France announced separately it would destroy 20,000 sheep
imported from Britain, while health authorities in Britain confirmed
four new cases and Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared a ministerial crisis
meeting Tuesday afternoon.
British Agriculture Minister Nick Brown reassured his EU
partners late Monday that all was being done to protect them from the
highly
contagious virus after health authorities on the continent stepped up their
controls.
``I wanted to emphasize that we have absolutely no intention
to issue export licenses for any material -- livestock or other
livestock products -- that could possibly contain the foot-and-mouth
disease
virus,'' Brown said after the ministerial talks, adding he had received
sympathy and support.
CRISIS DEEPENS
Britain's confirmation of four new cases of the disease
brought the total to 16 sites in England and Wales.
Brown said the export ban could remain for some time.
``We cannot expect to have our trade re-established until we
can show we are disease-free,'' he said. ``We're not there yet.''
The disease, which causes blisters in the mouth and on the
feet of cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, has little or no effect on humans
but
can be carried on clothing and shoes as well as vehicles and even the wind.
After the discovery of foot-and-mouth disease in Devon,
southwest England, at a farm known to have recently exported animals to
continental Europe, Brown warned that the chance of the virus
spreading beyond British shores had increased.
Farmers and health authorities went on immediate alert,
particularly in Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, thought to be
countries most at risk.
German and Dutch authorities ordered animals imported from
Britain to be slaughtered as a precaution, and Belgium has clamped down
on livestock movements.
German health officials began the slaughter of around 1,500
sheep and lambs at a farm near Neuss, close to Duesseldorf, after 80 of
the sheep were identified as originating from British farms infected
with the disease.
``We're extremely worried,'' Werner Zwingmann, the German
government's chief veterinary officer, told ARD television.
Thousands of sheep and pigs have been imported into Germany
from Britain in the past few weeks, prompting Deputy Agriculture
Minister Alexander Mueller to warn that the danger of the virus
spreading to Germany was ``very high.''
France said it was destroying 20,000 sheep from Britain
because they too had come from one of the sites in the UK where authorities
had detected foot-and-mouth.
In Ireland, heavily dependent on livestock exports, control
measures were stepped up. Activity at markets in the republic was
suspended and the government told farmers to cancel meetings and keep animal
movements to a minimum.
The crisis in Britain has now spread beyond the farming
community. Horse racing meetings face postponement and the Welsh Rugby
Union said Saturday's clash between Wales and Ireland in Cardiff
could be called off.
Canceling major sporting events is one of the issues Blair and
his ministers are expected to look at Tuesday afternoon when they
discuss a range of measures to curb any further spread of the disease.
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