Foot-mouth inquiry points finger at Defra

Last summer's foot-and-mouth outbreaks were caused by a "creeping degradation of standards" that must never happen again, an independent inquiry declared last week.

Inquiry chairman Iain Anderson said the animal health laboratories at Pirbright, Surrey, from where the virus escaped, was "shabby and dilapidated". Regulation and risk management were poor.

Dr Anderson, who also led the inquiry into the 2001 epidemic, said clarity of ownership and responsibility were needed for the site, which is shared by the Institute of Animal Health and private company Merial.

Funding and governance of the IAH were "muddled and ineffective" and the facilities fell short of international standards, although the science produced was first class and needed to be supported.

Dr Anderson called for the IAH to be turned into a new National Institute of Infection Disease to give higher priority to the area of animal health.

And he named names. He said the blame was shared between Defra as the regulator, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, which is responsible for the site and funding, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council as the funding body, and the IAH governing body and management.

"This virus should never have got out. Everything was wrong around Pirbright," he said.

He said a number of people should have noticed what he described as the "creeping degradation of standards at Pirbright, combined with a lowering of expectations in spite of the potential dangers".

On top of that, communications between Defra, IAH and Merial had been poor, and a secondary leak in November – which was contained – showed they were still inadequate.