It was precautionary. British beef imports had already been banned (due to mad cow disease), but imports of pork were banned, and just about any live hoofed animal could not be brought in. If I remember correctly, even Canadian livestock was banned from being imported, because so much Canadian livestock had been exposed to other livestock coming in from the UK.

There has been no outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in the US since 1924--but it is a matter of time. The virus can even survive being frozen in meat, and all it takes is one visitor to a farm in Surrey where an infection is, to spread it to Kent, Washington in a SINGLE DAY.

Kingfisher

It is terrifying how quickly and easily it can spread. I think the latest theory of how the virus initally started this time is one of the workers carried it out into the countryside on his/her clothes. They are even not ruling out the possibillity that it was done on purpose!

I saw a farmer on the TV from footage of last time almost in tears because he had lost his cows, but mainly because he had lost his prize bull who he had grown a strong bond with. It is easy to forget the emotional side of losing the animals and concentrate on the financial loss, but it is terrible for the poor farmers.

Indeed, and to the point, how many times can someone raise their animals only to have to watch them be destroyed for no good purpose? Eventually the farmer stops farming, as it's just too difficult emotionally to continue.

Kingfisher

There has been some encouraging news this morning, farm animals can be taken to abattoirs for the first time since the outbreak so they must be fairly confident that the disease has not spread out of the exclusion zone. Hopefully they aren't taking any risks, the way this whole episode has been handled is been good so far in my opinion.

It seems we may have got away with what could have been a terrible outbreak. If no new cases emerge by next week, then the outbreak will be over. I was also very pleased that a farm near us in Dorking didn't have its animals culled as they were found to be foot and mouth free.

That's very good news & hopefully an end to this outbreak!

Yes it's brilliant news, the foot and mouth warning signs are still up all around Surrey but there has been no news on any further outbreaks so within a few days hopefully this outbreak can be said to have been contained.

I've been really impressed by the swift and decisive action taken to stop the outbreak, it seems to have worked wonders.

Heard on the news this morning that an undisclosed farm in Kent is now under investigation. Fingers crossed that it proves to be a false alarm.

That would be terrible news if it had spread that far beyond the exclusion zone. I also heard that Chessington world of adventures has a suspected case amongst its farm animals. Lets hope that both of these are false alarms, I haven't heard anymore on the news about them yet.

I've just seen on the news that it seems that the cause of the outbreak was a leaky pipe carrying water out of the research lab. The drains had already been a cause for concern before the outbreak, but had not been replaced unbelievably because of money restraints!

Isn't that just typical??? While people are in danger of loosing all their stock & livelyhoods the laboratory are not doing what they are supposed to.

How people are prepared to take a risk with something so dangerous is way beyond me. And why was the virus flushed down the drain in the first place?? Surely, someone must be held accountable.

You can completely understand why the farmers are so angry, as are the rest of us. If research labs doing experiments on dangerous substances can't keep their labs in isolation then they shouldn't be allowed to do the research at all. I would go as far to say that the research labs in Surrey should be shut down, with something this important there shouldn't be second chances. Imagine if the virus has spread further? The outbreak was bad enough, but it would have been disastorous.

Just heard on the news that there has been yet another reported outbreak on a farm near to the Pirbright research centre. As before, all livestock movement has been stopped and Europe has re-instituted its export ban. As we are approaching the tupping season, this could also have a major impact on next year's lambing if the ban remains in force for any length of time.

At what point does negligence become sheer incompetence? And can this centre ever be deemed 'safe' ever again?

I don't think that the centre could possibly be deemed to be 'safe' in the future. What if this had been Ebola, rather than foot and mouth?

Kingfisher