Britain steps up foot-and-mouth stock disposal

LONDON - Britain will speed up the disposal of tens of thousands of livestock carcasses today in an effort to control the five-week-old epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.

A record 47 new infected sites were reported yesterday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Tony Blair to show that his Government can halt the spread of the highly contagious disease as he decides whether to call a general election for May 3.

Britain now has a total of 607 infected sites and the virus has also found its way into the Netherlands, France and Ireland, though on a much smaller scale.

The Dutch Government announced the country's fifth case of the disease, which afflicts cloven-hoofed animals such as pigs. sheep and cattle by causing severe weight loss. France has two cases and Ireland one.

In Britain, Agriculture Ministry officials said they were worried because three of the new infected sites were well away from areas with previously detected outbreaks.

Junior Agriculture Minister Baroness Hayman said that the time between disease identification and slaughter had been slashed but more needed to be done in the worst-hit area - Cumbria, in northern England.

A disused air base in the area was approved for the slaughter and burial of up to 500,000 sheep in a 5m-deep pit to clear a backlog of carcasses. The Army is taking charge of the operation.

A new sense of urgency in fighting foot-and-mouth has gripped the Labour Government since scientific advisers said the epidemic could spread with dramatic speed and that half the country's livestock might have to be slaughtered.

The Government has set up a high-level crisis management committee which will meet daily. The Cobra committee, assembled only at times of national emergency, will be chaired by Agriculture Minister Nick Brown.

"I believe now we are dealing with it properly, getting the kind of equipment and resources that are necessary for it," said Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Britain has destroyed more than 360,000 animals since the outbreak began but the wildfire spread of the disease - transmitted on the wind, on clothes and in other everday ways - has led to a backlog of more than 200,000 awaiting slaughter.

Ireland is culling thousands of animals and France has mounted huge slaughter missions to try to stamp out the disease.

In Britain, Government sources have admitted they underestimated the scale of the outbreak, prompting Opposition leaders to urge Blair to delay plans for a national election.

But Prescott and Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid, one of Blair's most trusted ministers, were adamant there were no plans yet to change election timings.

"The tourist industry ... would be devastated if we sent a signal to the rest of the world that said 'Britain is effectively closed'," Reid told Sky Television.

Clive Soley, chairman of the parliamentary Labour Party, said about 70 per cent of the party's legislators favoured going ahead with a May 3 poll.

- REUTERS

Herald Online feature: Foot-and-mouth disaster

UK outbreak map

World organisation for animal health

UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

The European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Pig Health/Foot and Mouth feature

Virus databases online