The UK’s £11 billion livestock industry faces new threats from disease unless plans to close half the country’s animal health surveillance centres are urgently reviewed.
That was the warning from the Royal College of Pathologists, which said the “cost-cutting” also represented a threat to human health.
Defra is to close seven of the country’s animal pathology laboratories, including those in Langford, Somerset, and Truro, in Cornwall, as part of a round of cost-cutting measures.
As a result, farmers face transporting large carcasses many miles to be tested for disease and a heavy reliance on vets to be at the frontline of disease prevention.
And the “dismantling of a tried and trusted system” has nothing to replace it, said one of the country’s leading vets.
John Blackwell, president-elect of the British Veterinary Association, said: “There is an assumption that the private sector will step in and of a level of expertise. As well as that, there are concerns about how the data gathered will be collated by the private and public sector. As well as that, there are the logistics to consider. After the closures, some farmers will face journeys of 120 miles. Particularly in summer, this raises questions over spoiling. In some circumstances, vets will be carrying out post mortems in slaughterhouses.”
The RCP’s president, Dr Archie Prentice, said: “These plans do not seem to be based on sound evidence but on cost cutting; the effect will be a halving of the existing network of surveillance post-mortem examination facilities.
“We think these changes should have been piloted before roll-out. We are not opposed to change but it is vital that expertise in veterinary pathology is sustained and improve so that surveillance if more effective, not less.”
The organisation said that the labs are “key” in detecting new and emerging diseases.
In the past it warned that plans to halve the laboratories mean new and re-emerging animal infections could be missed. It said these diseases may be transmitted to humans so the health risks are shared by people.
If this happens there could be decreased “consumer confidence” in the livestock industry, a spokeswoman said.
But the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency said the new system will mean surveillance of diseases will improve.
An AHVLA spokesman said: “The new animal disease surveillance system will improve our ability to spot new disease threats by extending the network to include post mortems undertaken within the livestock industry and at other veterinary laboratories, as well as Government-run facilities.
“The current model has a good history of detecting diseases but some geographical areas and species are not well covered and the system does not make best use of resources and is becoming unaffordable. It is being replaced with a system that gives the best chance of identifying and acting on new and emerging threats. While there will be a reduction in the number of government owned post mortem centres this will be off-set by including other providers of expert pathology within the system.
“Surveillance for serious diseases such as BSE, foot and mouth and avian influenza is not affected by the changes and AHVLA will continue to investigate all reports of notifiable animal disease.”
Surveillance at Langford will stop by September, by which time the AHVLA “intends that the procurement exercises will have contracted with a third party supplier of expert post mortem examination services or a carcass transport service”.
Ian Johnson, regional spokesman for the NFU, said its members would understand the need for costs to be reined in, and would expect the same level of service to continue.
“They’ll understand the concern about such moves but are more likely to be worried about biosecurity controls on imported meat.
“Then there are diseases such as Bluetongue, coming across the Channel in wind-blown midges, which are as dependent on the weather as anything else. Vets are already at the frontline, so it makes sense that they are the ones who do the reporting. They are trained professionals and, like doctors, will report anything they see that may be a danger.”
Dr Prentice said: “The current surveillance system is a success. It protects public and animal health and breeds confidence in a multi-billion pound livestock industry. The savings made in these proposed cuts are small compared to the health and financial risks they bring. We are always going to see new organisms that we haven’t seen before and we are always going to see old organisms that we thought had been brought under control, reappearing.
Alick Simmons, deputy chief vet at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: “There is no risk to human health and surveillance for diseases such as BSE, bTB and foot and mouth is unaffected.”
Source - http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/
