There’s been a lot of press coverage since the weekend and the announcement of the foot and mouth outbreak on the Surrey farm. While we wait for tomorrow’s news as to whether a nearby government or commercial agricultural animal research laboratory is or is not the source of the virus, read today’s Guardian comment from Peter Melchett.
We can all help. Foot and mouth poses no risk to people. Vaccines against many serious diseases are widely used in farming, including organic farming (as they are in human health). Apart from vegans, all of us consume dairy products and meat from vaccinated animals. We can make it clear to Gordon Brown that, whatever “the science” tells him to do, we don’t want those funeral pyres back, and we don’t want the countryside closed. In return, we will eat the products of animals vaccinated against foot and mouth just as happily as we now eat animals vaccinated against many other diseases.
It’s worth repeating: Foot and mouth is an economic disease cured by veganism.
