How Maff Gets a Decline in FMD Figures: FMD Antibodies Found no Longer Count as Outbreaks

1,644 sheep and 112 pigs were culled at Brooklyn Farm, Great Wigborough, near Colchester after blood tests had revealed antibodies to the disease in two sheep. The Ministry of Agriculture has refused to classify the case as a confirmed outbreak of the disease, arousing complaints from farmers in the area that the Government is deliberately concealing the true extent of the epidemic.

Maff said: 'No live disease was found on the premises. The only sign of some contact with the disease was antibodies in two sheep.'

The incident has upset farmers over a wide area of Essex. John Pulford, a dairy producer with a herd of 90 cows at Whitehouse farm, Fordham Heath, - about eight miles from Brooklyn Farm - said: "I don't know what to believe from the Ministry any more. The fact that those animals were showing antibodies means that they were in contact with the disease. We, and other farmers, have had a lot of difficulty getting clear information about this case from MAFF. At one stage officials denied there was a foot and mouth cull at Brooklyn farm."

Source: The Daily Telegraph, 2 May 2001