The European Commission yesterday announced a formal EU-wide import ban on British meat and livestock following the outbreak there of foot and mouth disease -- although it did praise London's response to the outbreak.
The ban covers fresh meat as well as live cattle, pigs, sheep and goats and milk products from Great Britain excluding Northern Ireland, said Philip Tod, spokesman for EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyrpianou.
The move "will essentially confirm measures in place since Friday," Tod said, adding "We are very happy with the prompt response of the British authorities. We are very satisfied with the way in which they have handled the situation."
PHOTO: AP
"We cannot compare to 2001 [outbreak]. However, we welcome the fact that the British authorities have managed to isolate the virus with such speed and look forward to them identifying where the outbreak originated," he said.
Meanwhile, British Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said a report by the country's Health and Safety Executive inspectors is expected within 48 hours, and confirmed inquiries were focused on a suspected link between new cases and a vaccine laboratory.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was hosting talks at his London office, and officials were convening the government's crisis committee after two cows tested positive for the disease.
The laboratory, close to a farm where cases of the disease were reported, is shared by the government's Institute for Animal Health (IAH), and a private pharmaceutical company, Merial Animal Health.
Merial said yesterday that it found no evidence of a breach in biosecurity, and the IAH claimed a check of records found "limited use" of the virus in the past four weeks.
"We have got to make sure this doesn't spread any further," Benn told BBC radio, recalling scenes in 2001 when 7 million animals were culled and incinerated on pyres.
Veterinary experts matched a strain found last week in cattle on a farm outside Wanborough, 50km southwest of London, to the laboratory, which is used to produce vaccine against the disease.
But Merial Animal Health managing director David Biland said yesterday that initial inquiries had shown there had been no failures in security procedures at the plant.
The site "operates to the very highest international standards, and we have complete confidence in the integrity of our operation here," Biland said.
"However, it is still too early in this investigation for anyone to determine the cause of the outbreak," he said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of