Defra 'must learn lessons' of foot and mouth

Tuesday, 1 November 2005 12:00 AM

The government must learn from the "painful experience" of foot and mouth to ensure taxpayers do not bear the cost of an outbreak of bird flu, MPs warn today.

A report from the public accounts committee says there was a "prodigious waste of taxpayers' money" involved in tackling the foot and mouth crisis in 2001.

And while it welcomes efforts by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to improve its planning for a future outbreak, it insists further action is still required to ensure costs are kept down.

"What is entirely unacceptable is that, if another outbreak were to occur tomorrow, the taxpayer would end up shouldering the bill once again," said committee chairman Edward Leigh.

"Defra must not delay in taking forward proposals to transfer part or all of the cost of future disease outbreaks to the industry."

Foot and mouth in 2001 cost taxpayers about £2.7 billion - one of the most costly disease outbreaks ever recorded, with at least six million animals slaughtered.

Today's report applauds Defra for improving its animal health policies to cut the risk of a further outbreak, and strengthening its contingency planning through increasing the number of vets and clarifying its approach to the use of vaccinations.

But it warns more work needs to be done on controlling the cost of a future crisis, and says Defra has yet to establish how industry bodies could share the cost of dealing with future outbreaks.

"The 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth was a painful experience for this country and the importance of applying the lessons learnt without delay to other animal diseases is becoming all too clear in the light of the current threat of bird flu," Mr Leigh said.

The report also calls for the department to agree on whether taxpayers or industry should fund the cost of disinfection and cleaning.

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