Brussels, 17/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - "Foot-and-mouth raises the problem of the health and economic management of a well-known disease, as are its consequences, coming on top of BSE, and demands an immediate response" says the Committee of the Regions in an opinion adopted on 5 April, adding that a working party would soon be handing in its conclusions on a package of issues linked to food safety (BSE, animal feed, encouragement for the farming of plant proteins, product traceability…).
In its resolution, the Commission of the Regions calls on the European Commission and the Council of Ministers to take a package of measures, like: - reviewing the general problem of vaccination; - undertaking an analysis of the causes of the rapid propagation of the disease (displacement of animals, illegal transport, negligence by certain operators, shortcomings in the monitoring of the state of health of some herds) so as to determine measures to take to prevent its reemergence; - the development of research to perfect a new vaccine so that there is no longer any confusion in differentiating between vaccinated animals and those carrying the disease; - reforming the system for transporting live animals to reduce both the number of animals carried and the distances travelled.
The members of the Committee of the Regions would also like to see the economic consequences of the disease for breeders, the industry as a whole and tourism assessed and call on the Commission to decide on measures taking account of the diversity of regional and local situations.