France bans animal markets

LONDON, England -- French livestock markets have been banned and animal movements severely restricted as tests are carried out on herds that showed signs of foot-and-mouth disease.

Nine French herds have been slaughtered and post mortems are being carried out to confirm whether or not they had the virus.

Belgium is also carrying out tests on potentially infected animals and a cow in Denmark that showed signs of the disease has tested negative.

Foot-and-mouth disease has spread across Britain with 69 confirmed cases and large swathes of countryside sealed off in an attempt to contain the highly contagious virus.

AUDIO CNN's Walter Rodgers: A major disaster for British Farmers. 420K/39 .sec. AIFF or WAV sound CNN's Peter Humi: Foot and mouth outbreaks confirmed in France 350K/32 .sec. AIFF or WAV sound

Tests on a herd of slaughtered sheep in France's Loire valley tested negative for the disease after showing symptoms. Eight other herds are being tested.

The animals are understood to have either been imported from Britain or to have come into contact with animals imported from Britain.

France has stopped for 15 days all livestock markets and severely restricted animal movements.

The Agriculture Ministry said the positive results of blood tests on the dead sheep -- at nine farms in five departments, including three in the Oise region just north of Paris and one in suburban Seine-Saint-Denis -- indicated that they had been in contact with the virus but had not necessarily contracted the disease.

"That does not signify that they contaminated other animals," the ministry said in a statement.

Three herds in the Cher region in central France were among those tested while a farm near Saint-Etienne, in southeast France, was quarantined after a herd of sheep imported from Britain tested positive.

By Sunday almost 70 cases of the highly contagious disease had been confirmed in the UK and strict measures were in place including the slaughter of thousands of animals to try and contain it.

One of the new cases was confirmed on a farm in Cornwall owned by the Prince of Wales -- though run by a tenant farmer -- confirmed as having the highly infectious virus.

In Britain, where the current round of infections was first detected, farmers and slaughter houses were being granted licenses to move disease-free livestock to market.

The disease is not harmful to humans but can destroy the economic value of cloven-hoofed animals and current practice is the slaughter of animals on farms with the disease to prevent its spread.

Belgian fears centre on a farm near Diksmuide, about 60 miles west of Brussels now the centre of a 12-mile buffer zone with 323 pigs destroyed.

Again initial tests proved negative but the final results will not be known until Tuesday and Jef Imans, the farm ministry's cabinet chief, said they were taking no chances:

"The signs were such that measures had to be taken immediately. The suspicion of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease remains."

The government also imposed a three-day ban on all transport of farm animals, banned weekend horse races throughout the country and ordered the destruction of all animals in transit.

The British countryside remains a virtual no-go area with suspect farms sealed off, sporting events scrapped and scores of parks, forests and nature trails closed.

About 45,000 animals have been culled in Britain and all exports have been banned. A complete ban on transporting animals domestically is being eased allowing animals that have tested negative for foot-and-mouth to be moved to market.

Agriculture minister Nick Brown announced on Sunday that EU compensation payments due to crisis-hit British farmers are to be sped up.

He said he expected a flood of applications for a restricted movement licensing scheme that will allow animals from healthy areas to travel directly to abattoirs.

Reuters contributed to this report.

France, Belgium suspect foot-and-mouth
Europe braced for foot-and-mouth
UK outbreak raises questions
Europe steps up disease controls
Disease-free livestock to move again
Foot-and-mouth crisis spreads

UK Ministry of Agriculture: Foot-and-mouth
Belgian Ministry of Agriculture
French Ministry of Agriculture
Danish Ministry of Agriculture (in Danish)
The European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease
European Union: Agriculture policies

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