§ 2.36 p.m.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether a Report on the research work that is being carried out at the Foot and Mouth Disease Research Establishment at Pirbright can be made available to Parliament.]
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (LORD CARRINGTON)My Lords, the Foot and Mouth Disease Research Institute recently issued a Report for the years 1937 to 1953. I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Printed Paper Office.
§ LORD CARRINGTONYes. My Lords, this Report provides a summary of the more important advances made in foot and mouth disease research, and indicates the lines on which further progress may be confidently expected. It also describes the large building and development project that is in progress at Pirbright to enable research into this disease to be intensified. The Institute has carried out considerable work on the possibilities of vaccination against foot and mouth disease. A great many vaccines have been tested, and several different methods of vaccine preparation have been explored. The new facilities at Pirbright will enable this work to be pursued more extensively. The Institute gets many requests from abroad for 732 immune sera of guaranteed purity and potency for use in determining type differences. The production of standard sera for world-wide distribution is safe and practicable only in a country like Great Britain, which remains free from endemic infection.