PRESS RELEASE
Groups within the livestock sector that represent these unique breeds as well as the specialist food producers linked to them, are either too small or lack the appropriate resources and influence with the livestock policy makers to ensure the development of more balanced and reasonable legislation.
ELA seeks to unite these special representative groups from Europes wide and diverse rural infrastructure into a platform that will provide positive action and direct access to the legislators. Thus providing animal keepers and quality food producers the opportunity to participate in the decision making process that to date has so far been very prejudicial to animal health, human health and specialist food production.
This in turn will lead to the evolution of high welfare livestock production systems, sustainability and environmentally sound practices.
The founding members of ELA, a German registered charity, think the current situation calls for immediate as well as long-term action. Many societies and action groups are doing excellent work in the same field, usually on a national basis. The extra strength ELA has to offer is its European approach, with members already in the UK, Germany and The Netherlands.
ELA as an international platform expects interested parties from other parts of Europe to join in due course, as threats continue to develop on almost a daily basis.
ELA working groups have already commenced working. One of them dealing with controlling FMD through vaccination.
Dr Simon Barteling and Dr Paul Sutmoller , both distinguished scientists, have produced a valuable paper which was presented and very well received in Brussels. (Copies available from ELA Website).
A second working group deals with BSE, Scrapie (TSEs) and related diseases giving priority to studying the epidemiology of TSEs. Because of the confusion surrounding the subject there is no consensus. ELA would like to receive a contribution from anyone concerned: scientists, breeders etc.
Other areas of interest may be swine fever, chlamydia, and tuberculosis in livestock.
If you are sympathetic to the ELA cause you are invited to join us. Membership means not only commitment to the ELA causes but also an active contribution in one of the working groups. A registration form is available on our website: www.ela-europe.org. There is more information about ELA on this site. For our contact persons go to the "about Ela " section and select "addresses ".
Contacts
Press officer: Piet van Geest, tel. 0031-412492968 e-mail: fairisle@hetnet.nl
Great Britain: Peter King, tel. 0044-1926812200 e-mail: peteking.f2m@btinternet.com
Germany: Sabine Zentis, tel. 0049-24278421 e-mail: CVLonghorns@aol.com
Netherlands: Betty Stikkers, tel. 0031-412492968 e-mail: shetlandsheep@hetnet.nl
To be heard in Europe we need one strong voice