August 6, 2007

 

UK government says EU will ban British livestock exports

 

The European Union will ban UK livestock exports in response to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in southern England, a UK Cabinet minister said Saturday (August 3).

 

"There will be a ban on exports within the European Union. That is automatically imposed as a result of the finding of foot-and-mouth disease," Cabinet Office Minister Ed Miliband told the British Broadcasting Corp.

 

The highly infectious livestock disease was confirmed Friday on a cattle farm southwest of London.

 

In a statement, the European Commission - the executive of the 27-nation EU - said it would adopt an emergency decision Monday "concerning restrictions on the movement of animals and the dispatch of products from the UK"

 

The highly infectious livestock disease was confirmed Friday on a cattle farm southwest of London.

 

Authorities imposed a 2-mile radius protection zone and a surveillance zone of 6 miles around the farm and imposed a nationwide ban on moving all hooved animals, including pigs.

 

Miliband said the UK would "move as swiftly as possible to get any ban that is in place lifted."

 

The case is the first in the UK since 2001, when a foot-and-mouth epidemic led to the slaughter of 7 million livestock. Many of the carcasses were burned on huge pyres that dotted the country, and large swaths of countryside were declared off-limits to visitors, damaging tourism.

 

Then, the government was accused of reacting too slowly, allowing the highly infectious disease to spread.

 

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Environment Secretary Hilary Benn cut short their holidays when they learned of the new outbreak and were due to hold a meeting of the government's crisis committee, COBRA, on Saturday.