Reuters | By David Evans
BRUSSELS - Countries around the world stepped up efforts to stay free from foot-and-mouth disease on Wednesday, banning meat imports from the European Union and increasing checks on travelers from the bloc. The United States was one of a string of countries from Canada to Australia to halt imports of EU meat and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said every precaution would be taken to prevent the highly contagious animal virus reaching America, including the screening of visitors.
And within the EU, German police began guarding normally unmanned border crossings with France, where the first case of foot-and-mouth on the European mainland was found Tuesday.
Police checked everything from British soccer fans to frozen veal schnitzels and all trucks carrying fresh beef, lamb, pork, goat meat and other high-risk items were being turned back.
Foot-and-mouth is so infectious it can be carried on clothes and vehicles or even transported by the wind.
Britain is the epicenter of the outbreak of the highly infectious disease, which attacks livestock such as cattle, sheep, pigs and goats. But the French case shows it has crossed the Channel, and U.N. experts warned no nation was safe.
"We haven't had a case since 1929. The measures we are taking are to ensure that we remain a foot-and-mouth disease-free country," Veneman told CNN.
The Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization called for coordinated international action, urging stricter controls on immigrants and tourists and warning that the disease could strike around the world.
"When we look at how the virus spreads, it's very clear that every country is threatened," Yves Cheneau, chief of the FAO's animal health service told Reuters.
He also urged tougher checks on the import of food products, including those carried by tourists, and waste from aircraft and ships, which can spread foot-and-mouth.
More aid should be made available to tackle the virus in the endemic areas of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and South America, Cheneau added.
British Cull Stepped Up
In Britain, where the disease has spread to 214 sites, efforts to slaughter tens of thousands of animals were stepped up as the outbreak threatened to scupper Prime Minister Tony Blair's widely tipped plans for a general election on May 3.
Over 130,000 cattle, sheep and pigs have been slaughtered. Half a million sheep preparing to lamb are also trapped by the freeze on livestock movement and some may have to be culled.
British farmers urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to scrap plans to hold a general election in early May.
Farmers and other rural businesses such as tourism face financial ruin: the movement of livestock is strictly limited, tens of thousands of animals are being culled and burned on giant pyres and much of the countryside is effectively a no-go zone.
"I can't conceive how we could have a proper (election) campaign in the countryside with the restrictions on movement," said Ben Gill, head of the National Farmers' Union.
"It's just not acceptable in my mind to say: well, OK, country folk only account for a small proportion of the population," he told Sky television.
The United States has urged American tourists bound for Britain to avoid visiting farms, zoos or other animal facilities for five days prior to returning. Any soiled shoes, luggage, cameras, laptops or cellphones should be disinfected with a water and bleach solution, the government said.
Travelers arriving at 110 U.S. ports of entry will be asked by U.S. Customs if they visited a farm while in Europe. If so, they will be disinfected.
The ban of meat products from Europe did not cover cooked meat such as Italian prosciutto or Danish ham and cooked cheeses are also excluded, Veneman said.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern will use talks with President George W. Bush Friday to seek exemption from the ban, officials in Dublin said.
They said he would emphasize no case of foot-and-mouth existed in Ireland and argue its lucrative export trade in food products should be spared.
Barriers Spring Up
Within Europe's own "open" borders, caution was also urged.
A senior government official from the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia said Germans should not make trips to neighboring France in case they brought back the disease.
"If journeys to France can be put off, then they should be avoided," Baerbel Hoehn, agriculture and environment minister for the western German state told national television.
"That should reduce the chances of the disease spreading."
In non EU-member Norway, the government introduced the toughest frontier controls since World War Two, banning meat from EU countries.
The European Commission said several countries had banned EU grain over fears of foot-and-mouth contamination. Morocco confirmed imports from Britain had been halted and a similar ban on French cereals was planned.
In Paris, the Algerian embassy said Algeria had stopped imports of European grain.
Italy said tests on sheep suspected of carrying the virus proved negative but further examinations were being carried out.Reuters:
