The US continues to ban imports of meat and livestock from all 15 EU countries, despite intense lobbying by them to restrict the ban to affected countries. The source of the disease and the methods being used for control provide a lot of discussion as well as heated arguments. Some have complained that the actions to slaughter animals are unjustified, and it would have been better to let the disease take its course, or to use vaccination to control it. But those who have experienced the disease indicate it has serious animal welfare impacts and should not be trivialized as merely an economic disease. Others have criticized intensive livestock production as contributing to the rapid spread of the current disease.
Pigs tend to be housed more intensively and inside, whereas cattle and sheep tend to be outdoors.
This has provoked further disputes about what is being done and who really is to blame. Here information is updated weekly on which countries are free of FMD, where outbreaks have occurred, and general information about this and other livestock diseases internationally is provided, and cleared. The office is an intergovernmental agency of 157 countries headquartered in Paris, France. It was created by an agreement in 1927 by 28 countries. They have working relationships with United Nations organizations and several other international organizations.