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From The Times
September 21, 2006

Foot-and-mouth cull went too far

By Valerie Elliott
More than a million farm animals slaughtered in the foot-and-mouth outbreak five years ago were free of the disease, a study has found.

Laboratory tests of samples taken from 23 per cent of infected farms showed no trace of the virus, reigniting the controversy over the heavy culling.

The Institute for Animal Health at Pirbright, Surrey, which ran the tests, said that the main problem was detecting the disease in sheep. About 40 per cent of samples taken on infected sheep farms were clear of the disease. This meant that of the 3.5 million sheep killed during the outbreak, about 800,000 were clear.

Writing in The Veterinary Record, scientists from the institute said that the discrepancy occurred because symptoms of foot-and-mouth were similar to other ailments in sheep. Many vets, the Record said, had never seen foot-and-mouth disease and were under pressure to control the outbreak.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that the culling policy had been necessary. The institute called for improved diagnostic equipment.

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