Ben Gill To Attend
European Foot and Mouth Conference
NFU President Ben
Gill will travel to Brussels next week to attend an
international conference on tackling any future outbreak of foot and mouth
disease.
The event next Wednesday
and Thursday is being organised by the European
Commission along with the UK, Dutch and Belgian governments.
In the aftermath of
the UK outbreak, the NFU has highlighted the need for
detailed contingency plans to enable the authorities to be better prepared
for any future outbreak of the disease.
There must also be
more and better research and development on the disease,
including better diagnostic and epidemiological methods. And measures
to
ensure that illegal imports of foot and mouth infected meat and animals
are
kept out of the European Union must also be stepped up.
Mr Gill will make
all these points when he attends the conference.
He said: "This
conference will bring together experts on the disease from
across the world to help us unite in fighting this common enemy.
"The UK experience
in battling the disease must be shared fully with the
rest of Europe so that we can all learn the lessons for the future should,
heaven forbid, we ever be struck again. "
|