Foot-and-mouth 'should be controlled by jabs in future'
Vaccination should be considered to control future outbreaks of foot-and-mouth, former British agriculture minister Nick Brown said today.
However, the British government had been right not to use to combat this year’s epidemic, Mr Brown said.
He was ‘‘absolutely certain’’ the slaughter policy had been right, the Work Minister told BBC radio.
‘‘We pursued that policy remorselessly and, as we now know, with success,’’ he said.
Question marks over what would happen to vaccinated animals meant jabs were not a practical way of combating the disease this time around, Mr Brown said.
‘‘The truth of the matter is that there are so many uncertainties in the vaccination policy, not least over what would happen to the milk from dairy animals and meat from animals being raised for beef,’’ he said.
However, a recent meeting of EU agriculture ministers had been examining the option of vaccination and ‘‘a strong case’’ for using it in the future did exist, he added.
Mr Brown said he had backed the abolition of his Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which was disbanded amid great criticism of its handling of the outbreak.
‘‘There was a case of amalgamating the functions of the Department of Environment with the Ministry for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,’’ he said.
‘‘I am a strong supporter of that.’’
