In reply to Nicholas Lee, Windsor, UK:
The government laboratory is not sharing premises with a commercial company, it's the other way round. The lab was there first. I guess the company was invited to share the site (not the buildings) because it was considered to be bio-secure.

PeterWD, Lisburn, UK

The assertion that the "Spratt report said the virus in the outbreak most likely came from Merial" is surely wrong.

Merial's biosecurity was never in doubt when the two official reports were published. While the Spratt report referred to the 'poor state' of the IAH facilities, it said that the Merial facilities were "state of the art" (para13) The HSE report said
"this act of discharge was permitted by Defra, hence we conclude there was no breach of biosecurity at this juncture by Merial."

While it would be financially convenient for the government if Merial could be shown to be to blame for the foot and mouth outbreak this year, it seems that responsibility lies elsewhere.

It is a worrying thought that the vaccine production at Merial for both FMD and the vitally important Bluetongue BTV-8 is being held up in order to imply a lack of safety at the Merial facilities that does not in fact exist.

Mary Critchley, St Sorlin, France

typical, farmers suffer & taxpayers pay to clean up the mess & once again government has excused it's incompitence & hidden under the old, no one is responsible.
tell that to the shopkeeper who is held liable if a customer slips on fluid that shouldn't have been there or wasn't cleaned up before it was spilt.
tell that to the farmer who doesn't report anything to defra in the manner and time they require.
seems like the powers that be can conviniently ignore whatever they want whenever they like & it goes away & anyone who says anything that they don't like does likewise.
i'm willing to place a bet that the problems would have been taken notice of if the cost of the outbreak was taken out of politicians & civil servants pensions pots.
if these people don't realise what thier obligations are they shouldn't be put into a position where their ignorance can cause so much damage & if they don't realise the damage ignorance can do they definately should not be in thier position..

k sexton, hull, yorkshire

Indeed - and had no the govt been arguing with the other company nearby as to who should pay the £50k bill for the broken drains? So the govt is actually to balme for the FMD outbreak. Smart guys, aren't they ....

Jeremy Poynton, Fromeville, 51st State

What about all the other government laboratories in the UK - including the old germ warfare labs? Are we to assume their drains are ok?

Redfern, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

How come a government laboratory is sharing premises with a commercial company, and an American one at that? Or am I just being naive?

Nicholas Lee, Windsor, UK

This whole thing is a complete disaster and yet Merial keep repeating claims that it is nothing to do with them. I say kick Merial out and replace all of the incompetents at these establishments who obviously are not got to run the place. What amazes me is that the Government seems to be remaining silent and doing nothing. How much of the fields surrounding the Labs are still contaminated, and with what ?? Is the Blue Tongue outbreak perhaps also caused by Pirbright ?

Is someone going to actually do something ,or just talk and talk and talk and do nothing as usual ?

Patrick, Guildford, Surrey

I thought the country was declared clear of the disease after just 2 case - by the Brown Government.

Since then there have been at least 5 further case, and perhaps more to follow.

This was Brown trying to demonstrate how he had got a grip on the outbreak, chairing his Cobra committees etc.

But now we see he had not, his desire for a quick announcement that the country was clear (coincidentally made at the same press conference that announced the leak came from the drains of the facility at Pirbright, that the Government had been arguing about responsibility for repair costs for).

...and yet, whilst making the all clear announcement, there were farms within the close surveillance zone, where animals were infected - and still allowing transmission of the disease.

Eddie, Cheshunt, Herts

I can feel a knighthood coming on - not for Kendrew of course ,but for those who say nothing and don't rock the boat.What a wonderful world when you work for the state!

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

Civil servants run things like that not political parties. If all you can contribute is a lets-bash-the-government-comment, log onto The Daily Star website. That's the sort of place you'll be appreciated.

Gordon Callan, Shanghai, China

It was run by "New Labour" what else would you expect?

Frederick, London, UK