Brussels, 16/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - An epidemic of swine fever having broken out in five pig herds in East Anglia, the European Commission decided on Monday to ban, until 31 August, exports of live English pigs and porcine semen "from throughout England" (but not from the rest of the United Kingdom). The Veterinary Committee, which has been convened for Tuesday 22 August, will have to decide whether the ban imposed as a precautionary measure will have to be lifted, maintained or limited to those areas affected by the epidemic (Norfolk and, to a lesser extent, Suffolk). In the meantime, two British experts - one responsible for managing the crisis centre that has been set up, the other for the commercial aspects of the affair - were at the European Commission all day on Wednesday examining the situation with European officials as well as with a Dutch and German official, who were able to provide their colleagues with the experiences gained in their own countries, also affected by swine fever (A Commission spokesperson pointed out that the last epidemic had cost large sums in compensations for Dutch breeders.).
Information by which a classical swine fever epidemic had broken out in East Anglia had reached the European Commission on 8 August. The Commission says that the British authorities have implemented the provisions provided for by the 1980 Directive introducing measures to control classical swine fever (which is extremely contagious for animals - including, for example,, through trucks carrying affected pigs - but is not transmitted to man). Since the beginning of the epidemic, over 10,000 pigs have been slaughtered in the regions concerned; in addition, the Directive provides for the setting up of a 3 kilometer protection zone and a 10 kilometer monitoring zone around the affected areas, as well as for monitoring the movement of vehicles and live animals. On Wednesday, a Commission spokesperson confirmed that no case had been signaled so fat apart from the five notified at the outset, but that the embargo decided as a precautionary measure applied to England as a whole as the herd concerned belonged to a large firm with 48 herds throughout England.
Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain had decreed an embargo on the import of British pigs as soon as the epidemic broke out, and the French Presidency of the EU Council rapidly expressed its intention of raising the problem at European level. The President of the Agriculture Council, Jean Glavany declared that "only Community harmonisation" could "provide additional guarantees for the protection of the pig herds throughout the European Union". British Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, for his part, said that "we are taking all necessary measures to contain and eradicate the illness", and that this should allow for the lifting of the embargo as quickly as possible".