Under the microscope
- 6 Aug 07, 04:54 PM
So the holidays haven't happened. In contrast to , today has been a whirl of activity. Gordon Brown has now cancelled his Dorset holiday. Environment Secretary Hilary Benn returned early from his. David Cameron has delayed his departure. And chief vet Debby Reynolds has just finished a press conference.
The government knows the way it handles the outbreak of foot and mouth disease will be put under the microscope. And Gordon Brown no doubt has bad memories of the criticism the government's handling of foot and mouth attracted in 2001.
So there's activity almost everywhere you look. The prime minister meeting farmers' leaders this morning, and farmers and disease experts in Surrey. The government's emergency committee, Cobra, meeting twice daily since Friday night. David Cameron too meeting representatives from the National Farmers' Union. And of course, people at Pirbright holding their breath for a verdict on whether either of the labs there were the source.
Behind the scenes, Downing Street sources are guiding journalists to focus on Merial, the private lab. I'm told that's where large stocks of vaccine were produced in mid-July. But the firm say they have not found any potential breaches. And the investigations are not complete. So there is still the very real possibility it could have come from the government funded Institute of Animal Health (IAH) next door. Evidence to MPs in both 2002 and 2006 suggested there were difficulties with cash - they said last November they'd been dealing with real term cuts in their funding from Defra.
It does not follow automatically that a breach of biosecurity was therefore more likely. The IAH - just like Merial - say they have all the correct biosecurity measures in place. And Hilary Benn says there have been improvements since then. But it does suggests people at the IAH were working under pressures. Could it be that a government funded lab, that's meant to combat foot and mouth, was the source of the infection? We don't know. And we may never know. I'm told by an official that the scientific tests expected on Gordon Brown's desk tomorrow may not be 100% conclusive.
But what is certain is that if the government lab ends up being confirmed as the source, ministers will face the anger of the country's farmers and thousands of others who live in the countryside whose livelihoods are being affected. On top of stamping out this disease, the government is hoping the source will not be traced back to its own facility.
