Written question asked by Patrick Nicholls (Conservative) on Monday, 9 April 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 11 May 2001. It was answered by Baroness Quin (Labour) on Friday, 11 May 2001 on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food

Question: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, what experiments his Department had carried out on the foot and mouth virus before the current outbreak; and what assessment he has made of the possibility of contamination of the national (a) herd and (b) flock as a result of such tests.

Answer: Mr. Nicholls: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what experiments his Department had carried out on the foot and mouth virus before the current outbreak; and what assessment he has made of the possibility of contamination of the national (a) herd and (b) flock as a result of such tests. [158249] Ms Quin: There are many different strains of foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus. The strain responsible for the current outbreak is a new strain to the UK of FMD virus, but is related to other strains belonging to the type O PanAsia group. Although the Institute for Animal Health, Pirbright, has carried out experiments with other viruses belonging to the type O PanAsia group, no work could be done on this new strain before the current outbreak, so nothing was known about the virulence or genetic characteristics. It was therefore not possible to make any assessment of the risk of this particular strain infecting the national herd and flock.

Secondary information