Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak

The farmer at the centre of the outbreak has spoken to the press....

Derrick Pride, owner of the first herd to be culled, said in a statement he was shocked and devastated by the outbreak.
"It feels as if my whole world has been turned upside down," he said. The findings of a probe into the source of the outbreak at his farm are due later.

What a shame, lets hope the Gov will compensate this guy for lose of his livestock. Hopefully the outreak can b contained,an erradicated quickly, before there are any more case of this elsewhere.

[edit on 7-8-2007 by spencerjohnstone]

New angle on this....

Inspectors are now saying that it is most likely that the outbreak came from one of the labs at the Pirbright site, they are pointing the finger increasingly at the vaccine manufacturer Merial.

Adding fuel to any conspiracy fire within this, the Health and Safety Exectutive's report states that the outbreak may have been "accidental or deliberate."

The Health and Safety Executive found there was a "negligible" risk it had been spread by the wind or flooding.

But its report said the disease could have been the result of human movement or "accidental or deliberate transfer".

Source: Outbreak source link to lab

Still nothing concrete though unfortunately. It would make an interesting case, should the vaccine maker be found to have deliberately spread the disease.

CX.

Very interesting ... reminds me of when I was told Norton create viruses so people will keep renewing their Antivirus software.

But if the company creating the vaccines did release the virus ... they did a pretty bad job of it - releasing it near their own lab?
Maybe a rival vaccine company trying to frame them by releasing it there?

Ooh, the case deepens, etc, etc ...

Originally posted by pk1yen


But if the company creating the vaccines did release the virus ... they did a pretty bad job of it - releasing it near their own lab?
Maybe a rival vaccine company trying to frame them by releasing it there?

Industrial sabatage of a kind? It would be interesting to see who else makes the vaccines for foot and mouth.

CX.

Poor old Gordon Brown hasn't had much luck in his first few weeks as PM has he?

Firstly the terror attacks and subsequent days on critical terror alert, then the worst flooding for a century which has destroyed much of our crop yield for this year, now this Foot & Mouth outbreak. Hardly the 'honeymoon' period he was hoping for I reckon!

Expect food prices for both meat and vegetable produce to rocket this autumn. On the plus side, it might help alleviate our obesity crisis!

www.timesonline.co.uk...

Institute of animal health suspects foul play stating this could now possibly be a police matter after another farm could be infected.Pending test results.

Dr King, a former head of molecular biology at the IAH, said that biosecurity was so tight that he felt the outbreak had to have been caused deliberately. He told The Times: “As far as I am concerned the authorities have failed to find any chink in the armoury of the establishment’s bio-security. What you are left with is human movement, which is not a matter for the institute, it’s a police matter. It’s very, very unlikely that it could be spread by accident. People do not spread the disease easily.”

THE deliberate release of viral material, possibly in an act of sabotage, may have caused the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in southern England.

A worker in protective clothing gives directions as a destroyed cow is loaded into a truck at a farm in southern England, yesterday
The British Health and Safety Executive said in a report ordered by Prime Minister Gordon Brown that "release by human movement (of the FMD virus) must be considered a real possibility".

source

The title of the news source states : Foot-and-Mouth Sabotage Feared.

Opposition environment spokesman Peter Ainsworth said: "It is no surprise but nonetheless shocking that the report identifies a major bio-security failure at a government laboratory and a laboratory licensed by DEFRA as the two most likely sources of the outbreak of this disease."

ref aboven

I would have expected the title to say accident but sabotage? Deliberate act of sabotage?

Who would gain from doing something like this?



[edit on 12-8-2007 by Thurisaz]

Breaking News on BBC News 24, Suspected new case of foot and mouth, being investigated @ a Farm In Kent. Will Post theloink as soonas I have it

Animals at the Farm are being tested. Statement to be given out shortly.

Heres more news on that, and an interesting turn of events at Chesington World of Adventure which also incorparates a zoo on site.

Two new foot and mouth zones

Knowing very little about foot and mouth, i'll ask the stpid question....

Are thier limits on what animals can get infected by foot and mouth? I'm wondering about the zoo animals. Sky just said on tv that the zoo inspection came after a sheep was looking suspect so DEFRA was called in.

It's a shame any animals being put down because of this, let alone zoo animals.

CX.

[edit on 14/8/07 by CX]

I been thinking about this for sum time we know the foot and mouth came from a goverment lab. This is what got me just for the sake of it say it was a goverment controlled test to see how fast it can/could spread and how fast it can be contained whos to say it is foot and mouth? just because your told in the media and by reports it doesn't mean it has to be!

just when you thought it was safe to venture out again, the very same strain of foot and mouth has reappeared in surrey only a week after it was declared to be free of it again.

the leaking pipes at the pirbright laboratory where the previous infection (supposedly) came from have been fixed so that can be ruled out as the cause this time.

now the strange thing is .....

it's more than 30 days since the last confirmed outbreak. The incubation period for foot and mouth is 2 to 14 days."

so what's going on?

link to story

[edit on 13-9-2007 by justyc]