Britain, which last year sent seven million animals to slaughter to stamp out a foot-and-mouth epidemic, should in future vaccinate livestock to curb the spread of the disease that ravaged its countryside, a long-awaited UK scientific report said today.
The official report from the Royal Society said the mass cull and severe clampdown on livestock movement undertaken were essential tools to control highly infectious diseases but would not always be enough to put a halt to the disease's spread.
The report, commissioned while foot-and-mouth disease was still raging, said: "The rapid culling of infected premises and known dangerous contacts, combined with movement control and rapid diagnosis will remain essential to controlling foot-and-mouth disease and most other highly infectious diseases.
"In many cases this will not be sufficient to guarantee that the outbreak does not develop into an epidemic."
During the UK epidemic officials had prepared a plan on the possible use of vaccination but they faced opposition from farm and consumer groups, who feared that the loss of foot-and-mouth "free" status would prove too much for the crippled livestock sector, already reeling from the impact of mad cow disease.