Brussels, 21/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The foot-and-mouth epizootic continues to spread in the United Kingdom (380 cases so far) and the Dutch Agriculture Minister, Jan Brinkhorst, announced on Wednesday that four cows carrying the virus had been slaughtered in Ols (in the eastern part of the country). The EU's Standing Veterinary Committee (SVC) took a stance on Tuesday evening in favour of keeping the embargo on exports of live animals, meat and dairy products from Britain until 4 April. The ban on animal movements (cattle, sheep, goats and pigs) remains in force in Britain as well as all the precautionary measures taken at European level on 6 March (a ban on the transport of animals sensitive to the disease except for direct transport between farms and from farms to the slaughter-yards and for grouping animals) (see EUROPE of 8 March, p.10).
The heads of the EU15 veterinary services have also undertaken to relax restrictions on the transport and export of French cattle, if no new outbreak of foot-and-mouth occurs between now and 28 March. The SVC decided that the embargo on live French cattle should be lifted on 28 March except for animals from the departments of Orne and Mayenne. In these two areas, the ban on non-treated dairy products and meat could also be lifted for 28 March, subject to the results of prior testing. The SVC is expected, on Wednesday evening, to take measures for the Netherlands identical to those imposed on France. The Netherlands have already banned since Tuesday all exports and imports of animals that run the risk of being infected, as well as all cattle transport.