The Tenant Farmers Association has reacted with anger to the reports of the Health and Safety Executive and Professor Brian Spratt, of Imperial College London, into the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Surrey which point the finger of blame at inadequate standards of repair, maintenance and bio-security at the Government-controlled site at Pirbright which houses the Institute for Animal Health and Merial, a commercial animal health company.
TFA National Chairman Reg Haydon said, "This is clearly a scandal. I can't help thinking that if these reports had been written about a farm at the centre of an FMD outbreak then the Government would have moved quickly to introduce draconian measures to increase farm bio-security across the board, more heavily restrict animal movements and would be seeking recompense from the industry for the Government's costs in controlling the outbreak. That the Government should have left a leaking pipe un-repaired, knowing full well that it was used for live FMD virus, is inexcusable."
"The Government has been praised for the speed at which it has tackled this outbreak. However, now we know that it was caused by the Government in the first place it puts the whole saga into a very different perspective. The trauma that has been caused to those who have lost their livestock and the major upheaval and loss experienced by the rest of the livestock industry through the necessary movement controls has been a heavy cost to bear. We were all fortunate that the site at the centre of the outbreak was not situated in a part of the country more densely populated with livestock and that it did not get into sheep or pigs – the consequences of those scenarios would have been unthinkable," said Mr Haydon.
"Livestock farmers across the country will now want to know how their losses will be covered. Those who have been culled out will have the clearest cases but the TFA is discussing with its legal advisers, Bircham Dyson Bell in London, potential claims from other farmers who have had losses as a result of the control mechanisms that had to be introduced. Given the Government's culpability we hope that it will look upon such claims sympathetically," said Mr Haydon.
