October 1, 2007

British farmers may sue government over FMD

British farmers are considering a legal action against the government to recover losses incurred during the current outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), farmer group the National Farmers Union (NFU) said.

According to union president Peter Kendall, hundreds of NFU members have registered to be part of the group action to recover losses incurred following the movement ban.

The first outbreak was discovered on August 3 and has been traced to biosecurity breaches at the partly government-run veterinary research complex in Pirbright, in the county of Surrey in southern England.

There have been seven cases of FMD reported, all within miles of the first outbreak - none of them included a pig farm.

Britain imposed livestock movement restrictions in an attempt to control the spread of FMD. The EU also banned British exports of fresh meat, live animals and milk products.

Though the group has been relieved that the government has eased movement restrictions, Kendall said these would not have been needed if proper biosecurity and containment measures had been in place at Pirbright.

In addition, representatives of NFU Scotland and the Farmers' Union of Wales voiced similar opinions.

A spokeswoman for the farm ministry said it would "consider any representations when they are received". She said the government's legal obligation was to pay compensation for animals killed to prevent the spread of the disease.

According to the website of the British Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the national movement ban, including pigs, will be lifted for the low FMD risk zones in the UK - anywhere outside South East England - beginning October 4th.