January 9, 2008

UK farmers wary on recent reports of foot and mouth outbreak

Farmers across North Yorkshire have been shocked and threatened by the news over the weekend that foot and mouth disease is back in Britain.

The devastating disease was reported at a farm in Surrey, which brought back memories of the crisis in 2001.

Rosie Dunn, former York East National Farmers' Union chairman, hopes that this has been detected early enough and the Department for the Environmental, Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) has managed to contain the disease in Surrey.

Dunn said that the current outbreak is devastating to UK farmers who just battled through widespread flooding.

Andrew Waller, the authority's executive member for neighbourhood services, said that early intervention from the government is very much needed. Vaccination is also looked upon as very important at this stage, he said.