FUW leader reacts angrily to reports of FMD biosecurity lapses

A WELSH farming leader reacted angrily today to speculation that the Health and Safety Executive found lapses in biosecurity at the Pirbright laboratory site a few miles from the outbreak of Foot and Mouth in Surrey.

"The Welsh farming industry has been through the mill since this outbreak was discovered a month ago," said Farmers' Union of Wales president Gareth Vaughan. "Farmers have suffered huge financial losses and endured severe upheaval to the normal running of their businesses.

"But, incredibly, it now seems that while farmers have been required to carry out strict biosecurity measures one of the country's most high-risk research facilities, in terms of animal health, has failed to prevent the release of a disease that we all know brings with it catastrophe for the farming industry."

Mr Vaughan was commenting on a BBC report claiming investigations into the outbreak found FMD virus traces in a pipe running from the Merial pharmaceutical firm to a treatment plant operated by a government-run laboratory on the Pirbright complex.

It is believed the pipe may have been damaged by tree roots before flooding pushed the traces to the surface. It is not known how the virus found its way on to the farmland a few miles way following the flooding on July 20.

But the investigation did establish that contractors working at Pirbright at the time travelled to and from the site using a country road adjoining the farmland where the first outbreak occurred.

According to the BBC, broader investigation by leading scientist Prof Sir Brian Spratt, of Imperial College, London, has highlighted a lack of co-ordination in bio-security between Merial and the government-run laboratory.

Defra will hold a press conference on Friday morning (September 7) for the publication of the HSE and Prof Spratt reports. They will also publish an epidemiology report alongside a statement of the further actions that the Government will be taking in the light of these reports.

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