WRITTEN QUESTION E-1143/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(10 April 2001)

Subject: Combating the further spread of foot-and-mouth disease by resumption of vaccination

1. Can the Commission confirm that vaccination of livestock against foot-and-mouth disease, which was used to tackle periodic epidemics of the disease in the past, has been systematically abandoned since the early 1990s?

2. To what extent was the policy of non-vaccination based on the expectation that the disease had virtually been eradicated and vaccination was therefore superfluous?

3. To what extent was the policy of non-vaccination based on the expectation that it would boost the export of European meat to the United States given that the US wrongly tended to equate vaccination with evidence of the disease?

4. Does the Commission think that the current massive outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom and the further spread of the disease in the Netherlands and France, resulting in the massive slaughter of livestock, a ban on all exports and restrictions on the movement of people and goods, can still be brought to a permanent end without the rapid re-introduction of vaccination?

5. When will it be technically feasible to make vaccination compulsory for all livestock susceptible to the disease?

6. Is the Commission prepared to play an active role in bringing the policy of non-vaccination to an end as soon as possible?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(29 June 2001)

In the early 1990s, in the framework of the establishment of the internal market, the Community adopted a non-vaccination policy against foot and mouth disease (FMD), taking into consideration that this disease had been successfully eradicated from its territory and the limitations of vaccination.

These limitations include:

- after infection with FMD virus, vaccinated animals may act as virus carriers, although they do not show signs of disease. This may lead to further spread and persistence of FMD virus in the animal population. As a result of this risk, the movement of vaccinated animals and the trade of their products such as milk and meat must be subjected to certain restrictions;

- there is no test to distinguish vaccinated animals from infected ones;

- there are seven strains of FMD, each with several sub-strains. Vaccination is only effective against the targeted strain and for a limited period only. In the absence of disease in the territory of the Community, the choice of the appropriate targeted strain for large-scale prophylactic vaccination would be very difficult;

- there are over 300 million susceptible livestock (cattle, sheep, pigs, goats) in the Community which would need to be vaccinated to give total coverage;

- the application of a generalised prophylactic vaccination policy would make it extremely difficult to export live FMD-susceptible animals, as well as their products, such as meat and milk, to third countries where FMD is absent and vaccination forbidden, including the United States. In a similar manner, the free Community market for these goods would not be possible unless all Member States adopted a common approach to vaccination.

However, the Community's non-vaccination policy does not exclude the possibility for Member States to resort to emergency vaccination, if there is a serious risk of disease spread. Indeed, vaccination has been applied in the Netherlands during the recent epidemic, in accordance with the conditions laid down in Commission Decisions 2001/246/EC of 27 March 2001 laying down the conditions for the control and eradication of foot-and-mouth disease in the Netherlands in application of Article 13 of Directive 85/511/EEC(1) as modified by Commission Decision 2001/279/EC of 5 April 2001(2).

Similar provisions were also adopted for the United Kingdom, which, however, decided not to make any use of vaccine. Vaccination was not used in France and Ireland, where FMD was quickly eradicated.

The Commission intends to review the current policy on FMD in the light of the experience of the recent outbreak. This review will include the conditions under which vaccination may be applied. The on-going development of new laboratory tests, which are aimed at distinguishing the vaccinated animals from infected ones, might increase the available vaccination options.

(1) OJ L 88, 28.3.2001.

(2) OJ L 96, 6.4.2001.