British farmers' anguish mounts

LONDON - Britain's foot-and-mouth outbreak spread rapidly again yesterday.

Officials said they had found 15 new infected sites, bringing the nationwide tally to 96.

From the royal family to national rugby union teams, from horses to dogs, it seems no one could escape the fallout from the foot-and-mouth crisis, now in its third week.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Queen had cancelled a trip to Wiltshire, western England, scheduled for next week and Prince Andrew would not be visiting Northern Ireland today.

The only case of foot-and-mouth disease on the island is in British-ruled Northern Ireland.

One of Britain's top horse racing events, the Cheltenham Festival, had been postponed because of the crisis, the BBC quoted the British Horse Racing Board as saying.

Organisers hoped the festival could take place in April. The postponement was blamed on sheep grazing on the course.

Prime Minister Tony Blair told Parliament that draconian Government measures, including fines of up to £5000 ($ 17,428) on people straying on to farmland, had been successful. But, he cautioned against relaxing restrictions too hastily.

"So far, all those cases that have been identified are traceable back to the same source. The measures we have put in place have worked."

The new cases were geographically scattered - four in Cumbria, three in Scotland, two each in Devon and Yorkshire and one each in Hereford, Berkshire, Derbyshire and County Durham.

The owners must now slaughter and incinerate their livestock in a bid to limit the virus.

Foot-and-mouth causes blisters on the hooves and mouths of sheep, pigs, cattle and goats, followed by severe weight loss. It has little, or no effect, on humans.

The British meat industry estimates the self-imposed export ban is costing it £8 million a week in lost sales.

Livestock has started to move around Britain again, despite the outbreak. Government measures permit the movement of animals from areas of the country not infected by foot-and-mouth to be taken directly to slaughterhouses under stringent conditions.

The Agriculture Ministry said it had issued more than 200 licences to abattoirs, and fresh supplies of British meat were filtering through to supermarket shelves.

- REUTERS

Feature: Foot-and-Mouth Disease epidemic