March 19, 2008

Joint Campaign Against Bluetongue launched in the UK
 

The National Farmers' Union along with 12 other organisations has launched a Joint Campaign Against Bluetongue (JAB) following the end of the vector-free period and the threat of more cases of the disease.

The groups involved represent farmers, livestock markets, the meat processing sector and the veterinary profession. They are calling on a voluntary approach to vaccination.

JAB fully supports joint industry/Defra vaccination plan for bluetongue and was committed to cooperating on the campaign to achieve mass vaccination of animals at risk of getting the disease, according to a statement.

The group believes that a voluntary, industry compulsory, mass vaccination programme is the right approach to vaccination, it said. It also said that the EU's bureaucratic rules for compulsory vaccination requiring official supervision would slow down the process and put farmers and businesses at greater risk.

The organisation has commenced its campaign to encourage all farmers with susceptible livestock to vaccinate their animals as soon as vaccine is available.