EU bans exports from mainland Britain after foot-and-mouth disease outbreak
A foot and mouth disease warning note is attached to tape across a closed footpath in Flexford, near Guildford, southern England August 4, 2007, around the site of the latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Foot and mouth disease has been found in cattle on a British farm, the government said on Friday, as it banned livestock movements to prevent a repeat of a 2001 outbreak that blighted farming and rural tourism.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
No live animals, including cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, or products from these animals, can be dispatched from Great Britain, the whole of Britain excluding Northern Ireland, the European Commission said in a communique made available to the media.
The commission said it was in agreement with the British government to identify Great Britain as a "high-risk area" where the exports ban applies, instead of limiting the ban to a limited area around the outbreak site as originally planned.
Likewise, other EU member states cannot send any such live animals to Great Britain, according to the decision adopted by the commission Monday afternoon.
However, certain safe products will be exempted from the exports ban in order to reduce the economic impact of the outbreak, the commission said.
These include animal products produced before July 15, 2007, those treated in a way which would inactivate any possible virus, such as heat treatment, or those which were manufactured in Great Britain but derived from animals reared outside.
Live animals and animal products will still be allowed to be dispatched from Northern Ireland to other member states, so long as they carry the appropriate health certificate and the responsible veterinary authority in the country of destination is given three days advance warning.
The British government has already taken a series of measures after some 60 animals at a farm near Guildford, Surrey, in southern England were tested positive on Thursday for the foot-and-mouth disease, a highly contagious disease of domestic and wild cloven-hoofed animals.
Officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) stand behind a cordon in Flexford, near Guildford, southern England August 4, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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The EU's executive body said the interim protection measures set out in its decision essentially confirmed those taken by the British authorities, including the culling of all animals on the infected area, the establishment of a 3-kilometer protection zone and a 10-kilometer surveillance zone around the farm and the application of increased biosecurity measures.
EU veterinary experts would review the disease situation and emergency measures when they meet on Wednesday, the Commission added.
The commission said it remains in very close contact with the British government as investigation into the source of the virus is still ongoing.
Since Saturday, a number of countries, including the United States and Japan, have stopped importing cloven-hoofed animals and related products from Britain or have decided to do so.
The latest outbreak of the highly infectious foot-and-mouth disease raised fears of another catastrophe like the one in 2001, which caused Britain an economic loss of 8 billion pounds (about 16 billion U.S. dollars), creating chaos in the country and leaving its farming and tourist industries devastated.