Netherlands calls for end to EU slaughter/vaccination policy
Both the Royal Dutch Veterinary Association and Dutch government have called upon the EU to change the rules governing the eradication of foot and mouth disease, to allow vaccinated animals to live and their milk and meat to be consumed.
The issue was highlighted last week by Peter Poll, the vet responsible for overseeing the programme of slaughter that proved so effective in tackling 26 outbreaks of the disease that occurred in the Netherlands in March.
Speaking to a national UK newspaper, Poll said he would never again take part in such a programme on ethical grounds, as it involved the slaughter of too many healthy animals.
Unlike in the UK, where a policy of blanket slaughter was adopted, Dutch vets followed EU policy which involved both vaccinating and slaughtering healthy animals in a mile-wide radius around the point of infection. The theory behind the practice is that it would enable the disease to be ‘damped down’ while the slaughter was carried out, and so contain the spread of infection.
As well as proving highly effective its own right, the programme also enabled the Netherlands to comply with an EU ruling that permitted meat exports to resume after three months - as opposed to the one year ruling that would have applied had the slaughtered animals not been vaccinated beforehand.
Nevertheless, Poll said the price paid in terms of number of animal was far too high – a position that is supported by both the Dutch government and the Royal Dutch Veterinary Society, as well as the Dutch Farmers Union. Whereas in the UK the ratio was 1,900 animals slaughtered per case of infection, in the Netherlands it was five times higher at 10,000 slaughtered per case of infection – and it is this level of slaughter that the Dutch are now seeking to prevent again – even though it would likely bring an end to the trade in livestock products with the United States.
As the next step, the Royal Dutch Veterinary Association is expected to support a motion tabled by Dr Poll and 10 of his colleagues on October 6, warning that the profession will strike if slaughter on the same scale is called for again.
