010364 EU Ministers Debate Meat Crisis

Brussels, Belgium - European Union farm ministers will try to get a grip on foot-and-mouth disease and the continuing mad-cow scare which together have plunged European agriculture into crisis.

British Agriculture Minister Nick Brown is expected to explain his country's measures to cope with the disease to colleagues anxious to ensure the outbreak in Britain does not get a firmer hold on mainland Europe.

In the face of farmers' opposition, British authorities plan to slaughter thousands of healthy pigs and sheep living within three miles of infected farms in the worst hit areas in a latest attempt to hold back the disease, which had hit almost 300 British farms by Sunday.

Amid all the gloom, ministers will be relieved that movement restrictions and a rapid slaughter program in France seem to have contained the outbreak on the mainland.

No fresh cases have been found in the six days since infected cattle were discovered in northwestern France on a farm neighboring fields grazed by sheep imported from Britain.

Nevertheless, farmers across the 15-nation EU are being hit by controls on animal movements and export bans imposed by nations around the world.

A new British study estimates the crisis there could wipe $13 billion off the economy this year. Bans on EU meat and livestock imports imposed by the United States and Canada will have a $400 million impact on annual trade.

With foot-and-mouth coming on top of the mad-cow scare, many livestock farmers are demanding help from the EU or national governments to keep them from ruin.

Some farmers are also calling for the EU to launch a vaccination campaign, but EU governments are reluctant to launch an immunization program unless the disease really begins to spin out of control.

EU officials have argued that any immunization campaign would be expensive and cost European nations -- apart from Britain and France -- their current “foot-and-mouth-free” status in world trade markets.

Experts also point out that vaccinations are not 100% effective and could hinder tracking of the disease since vaccinated animals carry the same antibodies as those infected.

Beyond the recent foot-and-mouth crisis, farm ministers will also discuss further measures in the fight against mad-cow disease.

Ministers are expected to discuss imposing a permanent bans on using animal proteins in cattle feed and new measures designed to bolster beef prices by taking meat from older animals off the market.

Prices have been driven down by a fall in beef sales of 27% across the EU since October as more cases of the disease were found in several EU nations.

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