Lessons of 1967 outbreak 'ignored'

Doubts are raised about delay in calling in the army

The government stands accused of failing to learn the lessons of the 1967 foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK.

A military report written in the aftermath of the last crisis said that the army should have been brought in from the beginning to halt the spread of the disease earlier.

The government's handling of the current crisis was called further into question as the number of cases in the UK rose to 1,062 on Friday.

Crisis in the UK

Cases confirmed on Friday: 4

Total confirmed cases: 1,062

440,000 animals due for slaughter

764,000 animals have been slaughtered

498,000 carcasses destroyed

And this came as Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Yorkshire and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott headed for Norfolk in an attempt to bolster UK tourism.

Written by a senior military officer at the end of the last outbreak the report concluded that Ministry of Agriculture officials had failed to get a grip on the crisis allowing a backlog to build up in carcasses.

The timing of the army's involvement has been questioned

It said at the time that the army should have been called in sooner to tackle the 1967 outbreak and should be mobilised immediately in future outbreaks.

'Failure' of government

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative defence spokesman, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the government was culpable for failing to learn the lessons of the past.

"If they read the report they either certainly didn't understand it or read it with their eyes shut.

"Every mistake that has been made was made in 1967-68.

"If they had only implemented what this report suggests we would now be controlling this disease rather than it controlling us, which I'm afraid has been the case for many weeks."

But junior agriculture minister Joyce Quin defended the government's record saying that the army had been brought in as soon as the scale of the outbreak became apparent.

When we could see the scale of the problem then we brought the army in

Joyce Quin

She added that comparisons with 1967 were unfair.

"In the early days in terms of slaughtering capacity we did have trained slaughtering capacity.

"Nonetheless, as all the tracings took place of movement, and when we could see the scale of the problem, then we brought the army in."

She said ministers liased with the army from the outset of the outbreak in February.

She accepted that more needed to be done to speed up the slaughter process with only 50,000 of the 1.5m animals earmarked for culling on welfare grounds so far processed.

Benefit of hindsight

North Staffordshire beef farmer Ken Unwin, who has been in the business for nearly 50 years on the same farm, told BBC News Online that comparisons of the two outbreaks were fruitless.

"It was an entirely different situation back then. It never moved to the extent to which it has now. It was confined to the Midlands and North Staffordshire."

If they had only implemented what this report suggests we would now be controlling this disease rather than it controlling us...

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative defence spokesman

And the 72-year-old sympathised with the government's approach to the current crisis.

"With hindsight, it would have been a good idea to bring the army in sooner. But no one could have envisaged it would escalate to such an extent.

"A lot of those sheep movements have been responsible for the fast spread of the disease."

He said: "It is easy to offer criticism but the men on the ground are doing the job under enormous pressure working in consultation with the National Farmers' Union and Maff."

Mr Unwin weathered the 1967 crisis, although his farm was in an infected area.

And this time round he had sold most of his cattle a week before the current outbreak began.

But all around him he saw the heartache caused by the disease.

"Farmers are under enormous pressure. My heart bleeds for them," he said.