Farmers deny spreading virus

Stonehenge has reopened but virus precautions remain

LONDON, England -- Farmers in the UK have rejected allegations that they are deliberately spreading foot-and-mouth disease.

UK media reports said a leaked report, drafted for Prime Minister Tony Blair, showed farmers had taken part in hundreds of unlicensed livestock movements since the start of the outbreak.

One farmer accused of moving animals without a licence in breach of foot-and-mouth regulations had been warned by police to leave the area for his own safety, the reports said.

The Ministry of Defence, which is helping control the highly infectious virus, was reported as saying it had heard of at least one farmer in Cumbria intentionally infecting his herd.

But Cumbria police told CNN they had not had any cases referred to them for investigation.

"We had heard rumours, but we heard them five weeks ago. We have had no specific cases referred to us, but if we did we would investigate them with the Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF)," a police spokesman said.

The defence ministry also denied it knew of specific cases, saying it too had heard only rumours.

It said it was working "extremely well" in trying to help farmers and MAFF control the outbreak.

But the chairman of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) in Devon, David Hill, said he would rather people broke the law by moving animals than let them suffer and die in confinement.

Hill told the British Broadcasting Corporation he "could not condemn" farmers who moved animals illegally rather than see them dying in appalling conditions.

"I would rather they did that than let animals suffer," he said.

NFU Cumbria spokeswoman Gill Shearer told CNN she was surprised by the allegations of deliberately infecting animals and had not heard of any cases in Cumbria.

She said: "Any farmer who has had the disease say they would not want to put anyone else through it. Farmers in Cumbria are very fearful of getting it."

MAFF warned farmers to observe the "tightest possible precautions" as the number of foot-and-mouth cases passed 1,200 since the outbreak seven weeks ago.

About 890,000 infected or suspect animals have been slaughtered and nearly 480,000 are still waiting to be killed.

The UK Government has given £600 million ($860 million) in aid to farmers whose animals have had to be culled.

Students delivering national census forms have also been accused of potentially contributing to the outbreak by trampling through farm gates in restricted areas.

In a bid to improve tourism severely affected by the foot-and-mouth disease, royal parks will be opened on Wednesday.

The prehistoric Stonehenge landmark in southern England was reopened to tourists on Tuesday, with visitors having to walk across beds of straw soaked with disinfectant to get to the site.

The tourism industry fears losing up to £250 million ($360 million) a week in the usually lucrative summer months if the epidemic keeps scaring people away.

The Netherlands has 20 infected sites, France two and Ireland one.

The European Union's food safety commissioner David Byrne said foot-and-mouth could cost the EU budget up to a quarter of a billion euros ($225 million).

While EU countries remain opposed to widespread inoculation, many want to reopen a debate on the use of vaccines after the current outbreak is over.

"We would be irresponsible if we came out of this crisis without learning any lessons," French Farm Minister Jean Glavany said after an informal meeting in Sweden.

"Vaccination was abandoned in 1991 for economic and sanitary reasons but things have changed since then," he said.

Many countries refuse to import meat from areas where foot-and-mouth vaccines are used. A vaccination programme could halt a region or country's meat exports for at least a year, EU officials have said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

UK virus spread continues
April 10, 2001
Dutch anger at livestock cull
April 9, 2001
Virus hits UK Easter tourism
April 9, 2001
Virus tops EU ministers' talks
April 8, 2001
Dutch farmers halt livestock cull
April 7, 2001
Foot-and-mouth suspected in Germany
April 3, 2001
French virus ban relaxed
April 3, 2001

European Union
England Tourist Board
Foot-and-mouth disease
Ministry of Defence
National Farmers' Union

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.