Agriculture: Price of lax biosecurity must never be forgotten

Surrey is blighted once again, as is British agriculture. Exclusion zones are set up, diseased cattle are destroyed, other cattle are quarantined, farmers are wringing their hands and the reputation of Britain's farm produce takes another international nose dive. It seems like a bad dream.

When the Government gave the all-clear last Friday, the wish was no doubt father to the thought, and the pressure to announce a return to normality was considerable. But what was the assessment based on? Spot-checks on Surrey livestock farms? On all of them? On how many?

But that's not the main point of concern about the foot-and-mouth outbreak near Egham. There are two much bigger issues at stake. The first is the possibility that the disease may have spread more widely from its likely source, the Institute of Animal Health at Pirbright, 10 miles away, which was identified as the source of the initial outbreak near Guildford. Two government reports published last week concluded that a combination of leaky pipes, flooding and building work, with repairs delayed for years by an argument over the bill, probably allowed the virus to escape.

From there, it was probably carried by vehicles to the farm found to be infected in August. But nobody knows for certain because no records were kept of vehicles coming and going at the Pirbright site. It is not likely but it is possible that if it got to Guildford, and now Egham, it might have reached other places as well. Survival time for the virus depends on the conditions in which it is stored but it can survive for well over a month. Let us hope this outbreak is the last one.

The other issue is the double-underlining of the price that is being paid for the lax biosecurity at Pirbright. This is a calamity that must never be forgotten by the Government, and full funding for biosecurity measures at labs containing dangerous viruses must be taken for granted.

That's the costly lesson. That, and not counting your chickens.

There is one final possibility: that the strain of the virus which has caused the Egham outbreak did not come from the Institute of Animal Health. That would be the Government's worst nightmare, presenting the possibility of mass infection across Britain on a scale like that of 2001. The possibility is a distant one, but it will have everyone concerned with the outbreak praying.