[Beewyched]

Hmmmmm, well according to Wiki foot and mouth is an airborne disease also carried by clothes etc SO if I had contaminated feedstuffs in my kitchen then I would be potentially carrying it on me anyway.  Interestingly it also says it is destroyed by heat I.e. cooking.  I also didn't realise that the latest outbreak was most probably  caused by a research facility releasing the virus rather than the poor animals eating contaminated food...
"Food" for thought......

Exactly - I remember the last "funeral pyres" in Wales due to that outbreak & I sobbed every time I saw them - something I won't forget, ever.
But ...
As I orginally started this poll - I still don't know what all the issues are - so it's very interesting seeing other folks' point of view on this 

[Mammyshaz]

Remember the time very well, drove past Heddon-on-the-wall where it was presumed the outbreak started. All the farms aroundvthe area had pyres. I felt the northeast smelled of burning animals for months, really felt for the farmers  . A friend was furious as their animals were insured against it but the government paid out more per animal for uninsured animals than that of insured 

After the devastation it caused we really cannot be complacent and safeguards should be in place.

[Tiva Diva]

Absolutely, safeguards should be, and are, in place. No-one wants to see a repeat of the carnage that followed earlier outbreaks. But I don't see how my feeding my pigs on waste eggs and meat from animals reared on my farm increases the risk. I'd obviously keep it out of my kitchen, as I do with the potatoes and jerusalem artichokes (again, grown here) that  I boil up to feed to my pigs: even though I don't buy in any meat!

[rispainfarm]

F&M compensation actually saved alot of farmers from going under who had dire debts.

[redborneschoolfarm]

The problem isn't just the huge number of diseases that we know can spread through contaminated food stuffs but more importantly it is the worry of those that we do not yet know. BSE is a prime example, remember the politicians telling us it is perfectly safe and there is no chance it can jump to humans. The regulation does make it crippling at times to smallholders who must be economical with their limited resources but it is there to not only protect the standard of food and reputation of British produce but also to potentially save lives. To change the law would be foolish at best and down right dangerous at worst.

[robert waddell]

i am goig to print this bold not that i am shouting or raging   just to try and inform
BSE WAS AN ENTIRELY MAN MADE DISEASE   DUE TO VARIOUS SLIP UPS AND AND WRONG ADVICE FROM ADVISORS         FOR TWO YEARS IN SUCSESSION THE FARMERS OR BRITAIN WERE FORCED TO TREAT THERE CATTLE WITH ORGANOPHOSPHATE TO KILL WARBLE FLY   THIS WAS DUE TO LOBBYING BY THE LEATHER MANUFACTURERS           TO COINCEIDE WITH THIS THE RENDERERS ASSOCIATION HAD ALSO LOBBIED TO GO FROM A BATCH PROCESS TO CONTINIOUS FLOW PROCESS   AND THE SAME HEAT WAS NOT APPLIED   A THIRD MAN MADE MISTAKE BY ADVISORS WAS THAT THEY ALLOWED ANIMAL PROTEIN IN THE FORM OF MEAT AND BONE MEAL TO BE INCORPORATED IN ANIMAL FEEDS 
 
THE INQUIRY INTO BSE SHYED AWAY FROM POINTING THE FINGER AT THE SYSTEM THAT ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN  AND IMPOSED CHANGES THAT ARE WITH US TO DATE
 
CHICKEN FEED WAS ALSO MADE UP FROM FROM CHICKEN LITTER WHICH INCLUDED THE CARCASSES OF DEAD CHICKENS
 
IN EFFECT BSE IS A SYNDROME      COWS TREATED WITH ORGANOPHOSPHATE  A KNOWN NERVE AGENT   SOME DIED AND WENT THROUGH THE RENDERERS CONTINIOUSE FLOW PROCESS  THAT THEN WENT ON TO BE INCORPORATED IN ANIMAL FEEDS    THAT THEN INFECTED THE DAIRY HERDS  AS THEY WERE MORE RELIANT ON FEEDING HIGH PROTEIN CAKE TO BOOST OR MAINTAIN   MILK YIELD

[Beewyched]

Thanks for that Robert - I wasn't aware of it before now 
To be honest - I shouldn't be surprised that so much of these animal health issues have been caused by "The System" - I remember reading with horror about the dead of Sebastapol being brought back & used as fertiliser    It certainly gives that saying "cannon fodder" a new meaning 

[robert waddell]

i hope in the years to come that an enquiry like the one that is taking place with hillsbourgh will be initiated   and show just how big a cover up did take place with BSE and foot and mouth
 
every time there is an outbreak of foot and mouth   a government agency enquires about the cost of sleepers  fuel oil coal and plant charges

[Bumblebear]

Although not a natural conspiracy theorist...it does make you think about how/why these scares are reported.  As far as I can tell the only ones who really benefit in the long run are the feed manufacturers (who let's face it can put whatever they like in the feeds that we *have to* buy - SYSTEM approved obviously) and the government who recoup the taxes/vat paid on the feed etc.

Scaremongering is a lucrative business....do I sound cynical? 

[oaklandspigs]

Although not a natural conspiracy theorist...it does make you think about how/why these scares are reported.  As far as I can tell the only ones who really benefit in the long run are the feed manufacturers...

Thousands of public sector workers and beaurocrats in Brussels and UK rely on keeping people worried about just about everything, creating the need for Food Standards Agencies, Meat Hygiene Inspectors, people who check that you're completing you annual ladder inspection report, and ensure you're worried about terrorism, botulism  & crossing the road.