Foot and mouth lab 'was source of outbreak' Biosecurity lapse allowed strain of the virus to escape and infect cattle

David Biland, [Merial]'s managing director, was flying back to Britain last night from a family holiday. In a statement released by the company, Mr Biland said: "Merial will co-operate fully with the UK Government to determine the source of the disease and will fully support [Defra] scient...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inSunday telegraph (London, England)
Main Author ANDREW ALDERSON, RICHARD GRAY and PATRICK HENNESSY Additional reporting: Jasper Copping and Adam Lusher
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London (UK) Daily Telegraph 05.08.2007
Subjects
Biosecurity
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:David Biland, [Merial]'s managing director, was flying back to Britain last night from a family holiday. In a statement released by the company, Mr Biland said: "Merial will co-operate fully with the UK Government to determine the source of the disease and will fully support [Defra] scientists in bringing this outbreak to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion." The Government has imposed a 1.9-mile (three-kilometre) "protection zone" following confirmation on Friday of infection at the farm in Elstead, near Guildford, and a 6.2-mile (10-kilometre) "surveillance zone". A national ban on the movement of all cattle, sheep and pigs is in force. More than 5,000 strains of infectious foot and mouth are held in a reference "library" by the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright and samples from all over the globe are sent there for analysis. It provides confirmation of outbreaks for the United Nations. Merial UK has been attempting to create harmless versions of the virus at Pirbright that can be used in vaccines.
ISSN:0307-269X