Foot-and-mouth fight reinforced

Blair visits an emergency office for the control of foot-and-mouth disease

LONDON, England -- Extra soldiers have been drafted in to help attack the foot-and-mouth outbreak sweeping the UK.

The UK Government says the army is beginning to bring the outbreak under control and has put on hold plans to start vaccinating animals.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "This is a huge logistical exercise and problems remain. We are determined to keep the pressure on through the work of the military but it will be a long haul." The army presence was boosted by deployment of an extra 200 more soldiers on Saturday.

The number of cases has continued to rise with the Ministry of Agriculture on Saturday confirming 60 new cases of foot-and-mouth across Britain, bringing the national total to more than 840.

Despite the spread of the disease, farmers say a vaccination programme would do long term damage to British agriculture.

Inoculated animals carry similar antibodies as those infected with the disease -- meaning countries that vaccinate lose their disease-free trading status on world export markets.

Blair has admitted vaccinations could be the option of last resort as the government seeks to halt the spread of the disease.

But while Blair ponders the vaccination issue, reports in the Financial Times suggested meat exports, which would suffer if animals were to be inoculated, would not resume to 2004 anyway.

Government sources, however, cast doubt on the 2004 date, claiming that meat exports could be resumed earlier than that.

Compensation call

Rural campaigners say government aid to businesses and communities affected by the foot-and-mouth crisis need to be delivered more quickly and effectively.

The Countryside Alliance said the benefits system was "rigid and inflexible."

Advice and assistance from the Department of Social Security was also needed for employers threatened with laying-off staff, the group added.

There are now 1,300 vets working on fighting the disease -- seven times the number usually involved in fighting disease on the government's behalf -- Downing Street says.

They include 112 vets from Canada, the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Sweden and France.

Under Britain's current strategy of killing all livestock in "firebreak" zones around infected farms an estimated 480,000 cows, pigs and sheep have been killed and more than 250,000 are earmarked for slaughter.

Dutch prepare for mass slaughter
March 30, 2001
UK's Blair on foot-and-mouth crisis
March 29, 2001
New animal virus scares hit Ireland
March 29, 2001
UK debates virus vaccination
March 29, 2001
British tourist industry counts foot-and-mouth cost
March 29, 2001
Asian meat suspected as foot-and-mouth source
March 27, 2001

Foot-and-Mouth disease
Dutch Ministry of Agriculture
UK Ministry of Agriculture
European Union
Irish Government

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.