布莱尔首相演讲:Foot and Mouth Disease

Transcript of the Prime Minister's broadcast on Foot and Mouth Disease

I want to speak today about the devastating outbreak of foot and mouth disease, to say what we are doing to control and eradicate it, and how everyone can play their part in ensuring this can be achieved as quickly as possible.

The situation is indeed grave for British farming. The funeral pyres of farm animals are the worst nightmare for the livestock farmers. And it is not just the financial loss, massive as that is, which is the cause of so much pain for farmers, the heartbreak also comes from all the hard work and planning, often over many years, that has ended with their animals being slaughtered and burned. This also explains why there is such a tremendous feeling of dread and anxiety throughout farming, an industry which has suffered difficult times in recent years. I want to offer my sympathy to all those farmers whose livestock has been infected. I also promise them and the wider industry that the government will do what it can to help over this very difficult period. I can also reassure all farmers and the general public that everything possible is being done to contain this disease, to eliminate it, and in the longer term to put in place any new controls needed to prevent it happening again.

It is why we imposed the total ban on the movement of livestock last Friday, and have placed exclusion areas around the farms affected. It is likely there will be more cases in animals already incubating the disease, but we hope however that the controls that have been put in place will prevent the further spread of the disease.

I want too to pay tribute to the tremendous efforts of the State Veterinary Service in identifying, tracing and controlling this disease. But for their work we would now be facing an even bigger problem than we are.

I also want to thank the farming and livestock industry itself for the way it has reacted to this crisis, for their advice and their co-operation in putting in place the tough controls needed. Everything we have done has been in full consultation with the National Farmers Union.

I can understand too why there may be general concern in the public at large. The scenes of burning carcasses on our farms are disturbing. But it is important to remember that foot and mouth disease has no implications for human health or food.

But though we are not at direct risk from this disease, we can play a part, unknowingly, in spreading it. Foot and mouth disease is a highly infectious virus which can be picked up by us on our boots, clothes and cars and carried many miles. By staying away from farmland, by keeping off any footpaths through or next to farms or open land with livestock, we can help the efforts to eradicate this disease.

We are giving local authorities today the power to enforce the temporary closure of footpaths and rights of way, but we hope people will
voluntarily stay away in any case.

Farmers, of course, are not producers of our food simply, they are also guardians of our countryside. Their hard work and dedication has created and protects the countryside we cherish and enjoy visiting. So by staying away from farmland areas, unless we have good reason, we can show our support for farmers in these difficult times and help contain and then eradicate the disease from Britain as soon as possible. Thank you.