'Flawed' Cull Damned by Top Scientist

Dr Paul Kitching, one of the world's top experts on the disease disclosed that one in four farms have been wrongly diagnosed as infected, according to a leaked internal memo by the National Sheep Association:

'... it is important to note that at least 25 percent of the [animal] samples submitted from infected premises are not registering as positive ...'

This means that when the culls on neighbouring farms are taken into account, about 550,000 of the killed animals to date have been unnecessarily slaughtered. Some 400 of the 1,600 farms condemned as infected are now known never to have had the disease.

Kitching's colleagues say the policy of dealing with the disease was 'hijacked' by Downing Street, and that he has become disillusioned at the way the crisis has been mishandled.

Source: The Sunday Times, 29 April 2001