FMD facts From Lady Emma Tennant Sir: Ian Gardiner, deputy
director-general of the NFU, says that the main reason the NFU opposed vaccination was that 'no one could give us the assurance that it would actually shorten the epidemic' (Letters, 3 November).
In fact, the leading foot-and-mouth disease specialists, including Professor Fred Brown, FRS (who has 46 years' experience of the disease and is generally considered to be the world's greatest expert), said exactly that: slaughter of infected animals combined with ring vaccination was the best way of shortening the epidemic.
Such a policy has been used successfully all over the world, in countries as diverse as Japan, Algeria, Argentina and, most recently, Holland, where the last case was diagnosed five days after the vaccination programme was completed.
The tragic mismanagement of the 2001 epidemic in Britain is due mainly to the fact that the chief scientist, a chemist, turned for advice to Professor Roy Anderson and his team of epidemiologists from Imperial College. None of them is a vet, or has any previous experience of FMD. The experts — of whom there are plenty in this country — were sidelined.
Mr Gardiner says that vaccination is 'an emotive subject'. I disagree. The scientific evidence is clear and unequivocal.
He says further that 'throughout this outbreak we [the NFUs] have sought to keep an open mind, weigh up all the evidence and take responsible positions with the good of the entire industry in mind'.
Anyone who has read the 'information' put out by the NFUs, or who has heard, for instance, Ben Gill's misleading interview on BBC Business Breakfast (27 March), will know that this is simply not true.
As a result of this epidemic and its disastrous mismanagement, trust between the rural community and the government has broken down. A large part of the responsibility for this lamentable state of affairs lies with the NFUs.
It has just been announced that the EU is to hold its own public inquiry into the epidemic, in Strasbourg next year. At last, perhaps, the truth will out.
Emma Tennant
Newcastleton. Roxburghshire
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