This response is based upon evidence collected, analysed and synthesised by ourselves and others with direct experience of the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak and/or knowledge of the epidemiology, policy measures and economic consequences of FMD in the UK and internationally.
1)During March and April 2001, Elm Farm Research Centre (EFRC) was very active in pulling together and presenting the case for the use of vaccination along side the use of slaughter. During this period we assembled scientific evidence to support the seeking of a Judicial Review of MAFF’s policy by Mr Peter Kindersley; we published information about vaccination; we set up two widely used websites on the outbreak; and attended meetings at 10, Downing Street to brief the Prime Minister.
2)This submission draws upon meetings at Downing Street and Chequers chaired by the Prime Minister in March 2001 and attended by Lawrence Woodward (Director, EFRC) and Patrick Holden (Director, Soil Association); material gathered for the Judicial Review sought by Peter Kindersley, also March 2001; the contributions of participants in a conference organised by EFRC held on 13th June 2001, who had been directly involved in the outbreak in various capacities (The Need to Inquire and Learn: In Search of Truth) and communications from two websites – Sheepdrove.com and efrc.com – which for a period were amongst the most heavily used non-government sources of information about the outbreak.
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