Measures to cope with any new outbreak of foot and mouth disease should see far fewer animals slaughtered if a European Commission proposal is adopted.
The Commission said today that vaccination was now a better response to any future outbreak rather than animal slaughter. During last year's outbreak of the disease 60,000 animals were exterminated in the Republic of Ireland and 6 million were culled in the UK.
The Commission also today rejected a press report in Britain's Daily Telegraphsaying a leaked draft of an EU parliamentary Committee report proposes the Commission would have the final say in a member state's response to a future outbreak.
The Agriculture Commission today issued a statement saying the proposal still leaves the final decision with the member state but if the country in question went against the EU standing committee's recommendation to vaccinate, then they could not expect EU-funded compensation.
"No one - neither the Commission nor another Member State can impose vaccination," the statement said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture confirmed they were aware of the development. She said: "It will remain the case that the individual member states will retain a substantial role within the EU framework." She also said that "a complete overhaul of Ireland's contingency plans" were "at a very advanced stage".
Meanwhile, the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Mr David Byrne, today told the European Parliament's Temporary Committee On Foot And Mouth Disease that recent studies indicated vaccination was an effective method of controlling the spread of foot and mouth and that the public outcry over the mass extermination of animals must be taken into consideration when drawing up a new policy.
Commissioner Byrne said vaccination of the entire susceptible livestock population was not advisable but that "emergency vaccination should be moved to the forefront of the response mechanism in the event of future outbreaks".
He said new tests crucial to the success of a vaccination response had been developed. Previous tests were unable to differentiate between infected and vaccinated animals, thereby making it impossible to detect whether the disease was spreading.
The Commissioner said: "It is no longer acceptable to the public that large numbers of animals can be slaughtered and destroyed now that new diagnostic tests have been developed and are available."
Mr Byrne said his officials had kept him informed about the work of the Committee and he could see both parties were in broad agreement.
He also rejected calls for the labelling of products from vaccinated animals. "Animals are already vaccinated against a wide range of diseases, including FMD in the case of imports of maturated meat, without any indication to this effect in labelling. I consider that this policy should remain intact in the event that preventive vaccination is used to deal with future outbreaks," he said.
The full report of the Temporary Committee On Foot And Mouth Disease is due in October.