Dutch farmers wreak traffic chaos

Dutch farmers say foot-and-mouth compensation is inadequate

AMERSFOORT, Netherlands -- Dutch farmers protesting at what they believe to be low levels of foot-and-mouth compensation brought chaos to roads across the country.

A total of 26 cases have been confirmed on farms in the Netherlands compared to nearly 1,500 in the United Kingdom where the virus first broke out in late February -- but more than France which has recorded two and Ireland which has had one.

Dutch cattle and pig farmers blocked roads and halted traffic in 10 towns across the country on Friday morning in their call for more compensation, the Traffic Information Centre told Reuters.

At Amersfoort in central Netherlands about 50 tractors took to the roads in a go-slow, while in the east of the country traffic was backed-up for up to nine kilometres (five miles) on the A1 between Apeldoorn and Henglo.

Pig farmers, flouting a court ruling against demonstrations in the south of the country, handed out leaflets which criticised their Agriculture Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst.

"Brinkhorst is not making good his promises," they said.

"He has abandoned the pig farmers in this crisis."

They also said the government had not acted quickly enough to solve the livestock welfare problem which affects cloven-hoofed animals.

Farmers want to quit

Meanwhile in Britain, a survey for trade magazine Farmers' Weekly found that a third of British farmers said they would scale back or quit the industry as a result of the effects of the virus on their livelihood and stock.

More than one in three of the 128 farmers whose farms had been hit by the outbreak and who had been interviewed in the survey said they planned to downscale their businesses.

Six percent planned to leave the industry altogether -- three times the normal number -- while fewer than half expected their businesses to recover in the near future.

Almost half of those questioned thought the government had given them adequate compensation for slaughtered livestock.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said he understood why those in their 50s nearing retirement would want to sell up.

"Frankly, I don't blame them for thinking about that," he said.

In the meantime seven people in Britain are still waiting to hear if they have contracted the highly contagious virus.

Though rampant among livestock it is extremely rare for humans to suffer the ailment, symptomised by blisters in the mouth and on the feet as well as a high temperature.

Experts say direct contact is needed with an infected animal for a human to catch the disease.

There is only one previous case of someone in the UK contracting foot-and-mouth.

Agricultural salesman Robert Brewis caught the disease in 1966, shortly before the last major epidemic.

The latest four suspected cases on Thursday came as the UK government announced a relaxation of the mass livestock slaughter policy used to fight foot-and-mouth disease.

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown told parliament that not all cattle on farms next to an outbreak of the disease would necessarily be culled.

In a separate move the junior health minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, said the government had known for several weeks about potential public health risks from burning animal carcasses before it published its assessment on the department of health's Web site on Wednesday.

Lord Hunt told peers on Thursday evening that medical consultants had been notified by the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) as long ago as March 1.

UK eases cattle cull
April 26, 2001
Foot-and-mouth symptoms in humans
April 24, 2001
Foot-and-mouth: UK man feared ill
April 24, 2001
Foot-and-mouth cases rise
April 22, 2001
New human foot-and-mouth scares
April 25, 2001
UK urged to end cattle slaughter
April 21, 2001

Ministry of Agriculture
Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Home Page
British Government
Dutch Ministry of Agriculture

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