Animal Health Policies - towards a more rational approach. Warmwell.com

Here follow three separate but closely related items. I've highlighted the key text in red. My comment follows afterwards.

http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=251&id=2074092005

FMD in Brazil

It has been confirmed that there has been at least one, and probably several, cases in the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso. South Africa has become the latest country to impose an immediate ban on imports.

It also seems likely, according to Peter Hardwick of the Meat and Livestock Commission's office in Brussels, that the European Union will introduce restrictions. Hardwick said: "It is virtually inevitable that a ban on imports from certain provinces will be imposed, probably for at least 60 days."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKBRU00601520071003?pageNumber=1

EU allows most UK meat exports after outbreak

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Most British exports of fresh beef and lamb to the rest of Europe can resume soon with the exception of meat from a zone in southern England hit by foot and mouth disease, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

However, Britain remains a "high-risk area" for the highly contagious livestock virus, the commission said.

The outbreak began in Surrey on August 3. The EU banned all British exports of fresh meat, live animals and dairy products immediately afterwards but is relaxing that except for the area where the disease has been found.

"The export of fresh beef and sheep meat would be allowed to resume from the parts of Great Britain which fall outside a 200-km delineated area around the surveillance zone in southeast England, subject to strict animal health conditions," the commission said.

The decision would be adopted formally from October 12 but would enter into force only if there were no more outbreaks outside the affected area, the Commission said.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/fmd/control/index.htm

Vaccination to live, which would be our preferred option, would mean that it would take 6 months (rather than 3 months for a slaughter only policy) to gain FMD free status for the purposes of international trade. The 6 months would run from the last confirmed case or the last vaccination, whichever is the later, and would require serological testing of a proportion of vaccinated animals to demonstrate that they are not infected.

Alan's comment:

Confusing, isn't it?

The "rules" are clear enough, agreed internationally by the OIE - exports can recommence 3 months after the last case when slaughter is used, or 6 months when vaccination is used.

However, here we have Brazil (using vaccination) facing only a 2 month ban for just the affected region; while the UK (using slaughter) can start trading again from unaffected regions just a few days after the latest case, with no certainty that it will yet be the last case.

Clearly, the rules are made to be broken when it suits.

So, should vaccination be used in the UK, the rules can be broken in precisely the same way to regionalise the affected area and restart trading everywhere else. There is no difference between the impact of vaccination or slaughter - just break the rules, in the same way and to the same extent.

Or am I missing something?

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