§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what clinical tests for foot and mouth disease were carried out by departmental vets in England to establish the existence of foot and mouth prior to 20 February 2001. [52313]
§ Margaret BeckettAny person who suspects the presence of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in an animal or its carcase is legally obliged to notify MAFF/DEFRA without delay. In England and Wales in the period 1 January 1999 to 20 February 2001, there were four occasions on which a private veterinary surgeon sought a second opinion from a departmental veterinary officer in order to rule out foot and mouth disease or consider whether to treat the case as a suspect. Three were in 1999 and one in January 2001. In all four cases, clinical examination by a departmental VO ruled out the possibility of FMD without the need for laboratory tests. The last of these cases was on 1 January 2001 in Lostwithiel, Cornwall. It resulted from a post mortem inspection from a private veterinary surgeon of two sheep. The veterinary surgeon did not suspect FMD but requested confirmation from a veterinary officer from Truro Animal Health Office. A visit to inspect the carcases took place the same day. Both the veterinary surgeon and the veterinary officer were confident that FMD was not present. This list excludes the discovery of suspect FMD at Cheale's abattoir by an Official Veterinary Surgeon of the Meat Hygiene Service on 19 February 2001, which was confirmed as FMD the following day.
§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many animals have been slaughtered as a precautionary measure against foot and mouth in the last three months, broken down by(a) species, (b) location and (c) date.[41685]
§ Mr. MorleySince the last case of foot and mouth disease on 30 September 2001 all animals that have been slaughtered have been either dangerous contacts as a result of sero-positive blood samples or slaughter on suspicion cases. All have been thoroughly investigated and in no case has evidence of foot and mouth virus been found.
The following table provides a breakdown by location and date of the animals slaughtered since 1 January 2002. All of these have been sheep.
Location Date Number of sheep Northumberland 1 January 2002 2,067 Northumberland 9 January 2002 2 Lancashire 24 January 2002 1 Cumbria 22 February 2002 1 North Yorkshire 26 February 2002 2 North Yorkshire 11 March 2002 1