§ MR. CORRIE GRANT (Warwickshire, Rugby)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the 1264 President of the Board of Agriculture, whether the United States has prohibited the importation into that country of hay and straw from Argentina, because of the risk of infection from foot-and-mouth disease; and whether a similar precaution will be taken in this country in the case of all countries where any infectious disease is known to exist.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) We have no information that the United States have prohibited the importation of hay or straw from Argentina, and we do not consider that such action is necessary in this country. The evidence of actual danger is not clear, and the inconvenience to the trades concerned would be out of proportion to the risk involved. The Foreign Animals Order of 1903 provides for the seizure, detention, or destruction of hay or straw in specific cases in which there is reason to believe that there is a danger of the introduction of disease thereby.