Written question asked by Patrick Nicholls (Conservative) on Monday, 9 April 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 10 May 2001. It was answered by Baroness Quin (Labour) on Thursday, 10 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 his assessment is of the impact on the spread of foot and mouth of the time which passed between the implementation of the export ban and the UK movement ban. (Holding answer 23 April 2001).

Answer: Mr. Nicholls: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what his assessment is of the impact on the spread of foot and mouth of the time which passed between the implementation of the export ban and the UK movement ban. [158250] Ms Quin: [holding answer 23 April 2001]: The export ban was introduced on 21 February. Before that, movement restrictions had been placed around all of the known cases of the disease, starting with the first suspected case in an Essex abattoir on 19 February. The tracing of farms supplying the Essex abattoir began immediately the case was notified. Once the infection at the farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall had been confirmed on 23 February, the nationwide standstill on livestock movements was introduced the same day. It is now known that the disease spread mainly through the movement of sheep and subsequent mixing of animals, and that the vast majority of the spread of disease around the country had already taken place before the first outbreak was discovered in Essex.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 368 c291W;368 c290-1W; 158250
Session: 2000-01
Subjects: Disease control Foot and mouth disease Export controls Transport Epidemiology
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk