Lessons from Foot & Mouth: Legal, Policy and Planning Perspectives
Lead Researchers: Prof David Campbell, Prof Robert Lee, Hepzibah Egede.
To visit the Foot and Mouth Disease website, please click here: www.fmd.brass.cf.ac.uk
Background:
The last major foot and mouth epidemic in the United Kingdom occurred in 2001. The total costs arising from this outbreak have been put at no less than £9 billion, with at least £3 billion in direct costs to the public sector and about £5 billion in costs to tourism and the rural economy. Out of the total costs incurred during the outbreak, compensation payments to farmers for the slaughter of their animals and welfare reasons were placed at £1.34 billion.
This BRASS project, which was completed in 2003, involved a wide-ranging review of the foot and mouth crisis, its causes, the responses to it among a range of stakeholders, and the lessons that can be learnt for the future. In the absence of a public enquiry into the 2001 outbreak, and its aftermath, this research has pursued a number of themes including: the relationship between the regulatory framework and incentives for disease control; a critical appraisal of the methods used to stamp out the disease, with reference to the legal basis for action; the intensification of agriculture and its consequences for animal health; and the influence of food safety regulation on the handling of foot and mouth risks. The project aimed to ensure that the public debate about how to prevent such crises, or at least deal with them more effectively in future, was a well-informed one.
The UK Foot and Mouth Epidemic of 2001: A Research Resource
Click here to visit the resource homepage.
This is a comprehensive online research and learning tool commissioned by BRASS. It provides useful information on Foot and Mouth Disease, particularly as it relates to the epidemic in the United Kingdom in 2001. It was launched in October 2003.
The resource was developed by Tamara Egede in collaboration with BRASS' lead researchers on Foot and Mouth Disease, Professors David Campbell and Robert Lee. Dave and Bob have written extensively on this subject and most of their works are available on the research resource website as PDF documents.
The website is designed by Heledd Jenkins with editorial support from Alice Percival. The address for the research resource is http://www.fmd.brass.cf.ac.uk (Please note: the email address of the photographer Ian Geering has changed to i_geering@tiscali.co.uk).
Other hard copy material is available at the BRASS Centre: please contact BRASS on 02920 876562
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