Scientists Urge Wider Slaughter at British Farms

Scientists in Britain say a greatly expanded program of livestock slaughter will be the only effective way to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease among the nation’s farm animals.

Researchers at the Imperial College School of Medicine in London have called for a policy of “ring culling,” a system in which all livestock within about a mile of an infected animal are killed.

“Extensive culling is sadly the only option for controlling the current British epidemic, and it is essential that the control measures now in place are maintained during the long decay phase of the epidemic to ensure eradication,” the authors say today in the journal Science.

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, a highly infectious illness that affects cows, horses, sheep and pigs but not humans, developed in Britain seven weeks ago. It has also been reported in France, Ireland and the Netherlands.

British officials have been attempting to control the disease by forbidding transportation of animals, canceling livestock shows and slaughtering all animals in herds where the disease appears.

But according to the scientists, a computer study shows that the best approach will be to slaughter all infected animals within 24 hours, followed within 48 hours by all potentially affected animals within about a mile of the infection point.