A GROUP of northern vets, a food scientist and a Yorkshire Euro-MP called today for vaccination to tackle foot and mouth disease.
They issued a "Harrogate declaration", warning that the alternative could be culling the majority of the nation's livestock and changing the face of the countryside forever.
The warning came as it was revealed that two suspected cases of foot and mouth have arisen in Leicestershire, four months after the last confirmed case in the county.
The declaration, agreed at a meeting in Harrogate of Yorkshire MEP and European Tory leader Edward McMillan-Scott, Dr Susan Haywood, a senior fellow in veterinary pathology, Swaledale vet Mr Paul Roger, and food science professor Dr Verner Wheelock, was being sent today to the Prime Minister and to the EU authorities.
"The disease is disturbingly consistent. If we do not want to cull the majority of the nation's livestock and alter the face of our countryside forever, then the only policy with any hope of success is to vaccinate as the autumn weather cools," it warns.
The signatories claim the outbreak differs from the 1967-68 UK outbreak in that the expected 'tail off' has not occurred.
Updated: 11:14 Monday, September 10, 2001
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