Effects of Foot and Mouth

[Interpreter]

With foot and mouth in the country again, I expect that a lot of wild life photography will be curtailed. Just how safe would it be to move through infected areas? I see that all movements of cattle, sheep and pigs are banned throughout the country.

[mrs fish]

Footpaths will be closed again I expect, well certainly in Surrey

[Ambriel]

I think it's vital that they get to the source of the new infection as quickly as possible.

A worst case scenario will indeed see footpaths and access to farmland severly curtailed, but let's hope it doesn't come to that.

[clover green]

Lets hope they move quicker this time to stop the spread of the infection. With tight controls this could be nipped in the bud, unlike last time, which was a disaster!

[RogerTheCat]

I am off on holiday to the lake district in one weeks time so I am keepling a close eye on what is happening with F&M.

[Ambriel]

Curiouser and curiouser...

So the strain of the F&M virus found at the farm is identical to that used by a lab to produce the vaccine, and isn't one normally found in the wild...

BBC NEWS | UK | Disease lab faces safety inquiry

Anyone want to hazzard a guess on how long it will be before Gordon Brown announces that it was Al Qaeda...

[Interpreter]

Originally Posted by Ambriel

Curiouser and curiouser...

So the strain of the F&M virus found at the farm is identical to that used by a lab to produce the vaccine, and isn't one normally found in the wild...

...

Does this mean that I can stop swatting butterflies?

[Adam Cheeseman]

So let me get this right. The FM virus escaped form the American company's lab at Pirbright. Our Government are now buying 300,000 vaccinations from the very same company.

I have questions.

1. Shouldn't the company (Merial) be footing the bill for this if they are responsible?
2. Shouldn't this research be done by our own government bodies or by British companies?
3. (Conspiracy theory) Was the virus 'let out' by the company knowing that our government
would have to buy the company's very own vaccine?
4. Can the Americans do anything without making an almighty mess of it?

Cheers,

Adam

[jnb]

Originally Posted by mrs fish

Footpaths will be closed again I expect, well certainly in Surrey

At present (AIUI) footpaths are only closed where they cross premises known to be infected and elsewhere subject to veterinary advice. There has been some criticism of this as farmers have been, not unreasonably, been pointing out that this poses a transmission risk. There is an argument that footpaths should be closed across sites where F&M is "suspected" and arguably throughout the 3km protection zone.

At the other extreme it discredits the argument for necessary closures if closures are used unnecessarily. For example there are reports on news.bbc.co.uk citing examples of farmers in Teesdale who have been putting up notices claiming that footpaths and rights of way are closed when they are 300km from Surrey.

[jnb]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

So let me get this right. The FM virus escaped form the American company's lab at Pirbright. Our Government are now buying 300,000 vaccinations from the very same company.

I have questions.

1. Shouldn't the company (Merial) be footing the bill for this if they are responsible?

well so far it can not be shown that they are responsible and whether they are or are not responsible they are probably the best source of any vaccine should it be required.

3. (Conspiracy theory) Was the virus 'let out' by the company knowing that our government would have to buy the company's very own vaccine?

Probably not. It's not exactly good publicity for Merial.

4. Can the Americans do anything without making an almighty mess of it?

Track record suggests not!

[Ambriel]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

So let me get this right. The FM virus escaped form the American company's lab at Pirbright.

So far there is no conclusive evidense that's where the leak originated, but they were 'cooking up a brew' on 16 July using the exact same strain so it's got to be the No.1 Suspect.

As to whether the government are the customer for whom they were making the vaccine I haven't seen that anywhere.

[Deer Hunter]

Further to Adam Cheesemans 4th question

The answer is a big NO
The sooner this country stops being a puppet to George Bush and his crony yanks the better
Just look at Afghanistan and Iraq.

Deer Hunter
ex Royal Marine Commando