FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4811, 20 February 1936, Page 3

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE.

PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES. LAXITY IN BRITAIN. It is a remarkable fact that while Britain is expending huge sums of money to stamp out foot and mcuth disease when it periodically appears through introduced germs of the disease, nothing is being done to restrict the importation, or totally prohibit, importations of chilled meat from the Argentine, where the disease is rife (states an exchange). In a recent issue of the “Farmers’ Weekly,” of London, this statement appears: “Officials are convinced that one of the sources of infection is beef imported from the Argentine, that the virus remains active for a long time in the body of an animal killed at the height of an epidemic, especially in the bones and when the carcase is kept chilled and frozen. There is danger of using swill and food products from the bones of Argentine meat. They also know that the disease may be carried by straw packing and in sacking.” The London paper goes on to say that that countries which are content to isolate animals, instead of slaughtering them as in England, are never without the disease. France is a country that is content with isolation, and foot and mouth disease costs that country £5,000,000 a year. The average yearly amount paid in Britain for compensation alone since the end of 1921 has been £388,242.