French outbreak may mark the beginning of continental crisis

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed in France yesterday, marking the arrival of the epidemic on the European continent.

The French minister of agriculture, Mr Jean Glavany, said he feared further outbreaks after tests showed that six dairy cows in a herd of 114 in the department of Mayenne in north-west France came down with the disease.

The cattle were raised a few dozen metres from a farm where 1,000 sheep imported from Britain were slaughtered between February 27th and March 5th.

"Obviously I'm afraid [of further outbreaks]," Mr Glavany said. "We imported 20,000 sheep from Britain in the last weeks of February. The analyses we carried out afterwards showed that a very high number of these sheep - at least half of them - carried the virus. These sheep were spread out in about 20 French departments, so potentially they transmitted the virus to others."

France initially hoped that an expected EU embargo on French animals could be limited to areas surrounding the outbreak. But Mr Glavany's admission makes that unlikely.

Also yesterday, the prefect of the Seine-et-Marne department east of Paris announced that three sheep there tested positive for foot-and-mouth antibodies.

Belgium and Spain immediately suspended imports of French livestock. The German Rhineland decided to destroy all cattle imported from France in the past three weeks.

Poland announced it would stop French animals crossing its territory and Italy placed 400 French lambs in quarantine.

Mr Francis Leroyer, owner of the stricken herd in La Baroche-Gondouin, had spent 30 years breeding cattle. He called a veterinarian on Monday when he noticed blisters in the mouths, tongues, udders and hooves of six of his cows. Mr Leroyer's entire herd was killed overnight, before test results were certain. French television broadcast footage of the animals burning in a large ditch yesterday.

"The fault must be looked for in England," a neighbour of Mr Leroyer told France Info radio.

Until the outbreak was announced, French media portrayed the epidemic in Britain as an indictment against intensive agri-industry.

Mayenne is the second biggest beef-producing region of France. The village of La Baroche-Gondouin, home to 164 people on 15 farms, has been isolated since the British sheep were slaughtered two weeks ago.

The French Equestrian Federation has cancelled all horse races next weekend, but the France-Wales Six Nations Tournament match is to take place on March 17th at the Stade de France as scheduled.

Under the French agriculture ministry's "FMD Alert Plan", enforced by the gendarmerie, all animals within a 10 km surveillance zone must be listed, isolated and prevented from travelling on foot.

Vehicles used for transporting food, animals or animal products must be disinfected. Everyone entering or leaving a farm or pasture within the more strict 3 km protection zone must be disinfected. These measures may be relaxed after two weeks.