Letter in the Telegraph:
Sir – The thought that the same people who dealt so
effectively with the recent foot-and-mouth disaster will be controlling
bird flu, if it arrives, must fill us all with the greatest confidence.
John Carter, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
In
I’m just hoping there was a /sarcasm at the bottom of the letter…
Gorse Fox knows a lot about this, and he can assure you that a great deal of work has been and is still being done in this area.
A great deal was learned from earlier outbreaks, and HMG has finally started to invest some money in the support systems.
Don’t blame the people who dealt with FMD. Blame the people who hung them out to dry through years of under-investment.
Those who dealt with the outbreak worked night and day 7 days a week for months on end. They were caring, skilled, dedicated professionals doing the best they could with what they had.
For more background, GF refers the reader to: http://www.defra.gov.uk/footandmouth/
and also to the section on Avian Flu in the same website.
PS… GF is having trouble with your trackback address. Not sure if it’s Typepad or Haloscan, but something’s not matching up.
Got to rush now…
Actually we OVER-reacted to foot and mouth slaughtering millions of cattle to placate market forces so that British meat could be exported (except it seems to france and the US!)
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