LONDON -- An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain has caused a panic among farmers here and in the rest of Europe. Farms have been isolated and large numbers of animals, slaughtered on suspicion of harboring the disease, have been incinerated on the spot. Parks, where deer may be found, have been closed and footpaths in the countryside shut to ramblers. Cars approaching or leaving farmland have to cross disinfected straw. The authorities have behaved as if Britain were facing an outbreak of the Black Death.
In fact, foot-and-mouth disease is endemic in many parts of the world, including Asia, and the virus is easily transmitted, especially in the cold weather from which Britain has been suffering. It is an unpleasant disease for the animals infected, but stronger animals recover reasonably quickly. In contrast to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which can in rare cases cause a brain disease in humans, there is no evidence that foot-and-mouth disease in cattle can infect humans or animals other than those with cloven hooves. There are vaccines, but they are said to be costly and not always effective for long periods -- not least because of the number of different strains of the disease.
Do we really have to adopt the current drastic measures? The answer appears to lie in the economics of modern animal husbandry. The breeding and feeding for slaughter of cattle, sheep, pigs and poultry have become industrialized processes designed to produce cheaper and more plentiful meat supplies. Markets dictate. The slaughter of infected or potentially infected animals, which is designed to eradicate the disease, is thought to be cheaper in the long run than the vaccination of herds. But the cost of the current outbreak in terms of compensation to farmers and truckers alone will be huge, and even if the disease is eradicated from British herds it will be a long time before British farmers will be able to export animals and meat again.