The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease on farms across most of the British countryside. Over 6 million cows and sheep were slaughtered on farms in an eventually successful attempt to halt the disease. Cumbria was the worst affected area of the country, with 893 cases.
With the intention of controlling the spread of the disease, public rights of way across land were closed by order. This damaged the popularity of rural areas such as Wales, Cornwall and the Lake District as tourist destinations and led to the cancellation of that year's Cheltenham Festival, as well as the British Rally Championship for the 2001 season along with the Isle of Man TT, and also delayed that year's general election by a month. Crufts, the international dog show, had to be postponed by 2 months from March to May 2001. By the time that the disease was halted in October 2001, the crisis was estimated to have cost the United Kingdom £8 billion.
Background
Britain's last outbreak had been in 1967, and had been confined to a small area of the country. The Northumberland report issued after the 1967 outbreak had identified that speed was the key to stopping a future outbreak, with the recommendation of identified animals being slaughtered on the spot on the same day as identification and the carcasses buried in quicklime.
In 1980, Foot and Mouth Disease treatment policy passed from the hands of the UK Government to the European level as a result of European Community (EC) directive, 85/511. This set out procedures, such as protection and "surveillance zones", the confirmation of diagnosis by laboratory testing and that actions had to be consulted with the EC and its Standing Veterinary Committee. An earlier directive, 80/68, on the protection of groundwater gave powers to the Environment Agency to prohibit farm burials and the use of quicklime unless the site was authorised by the Agency.
Since the 1967 outbreak, there had also been significant changes in farming methods. Specifically animals were being kept in larger numbers and being housed during the winter. The closure of many local abattoirs meant that animals for slaughter were now being transported greater distances.
Outbreak Beginnings
The first case of the disease to be detected was at Cheale Meats abattoir in Little Warley, Essex on 19 February 2001, in pigs from Buckinghamshire and the Isle of Wight. Over the next four days, several more cases were announced in Essex, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) imposed movement restrictions on livestock in and out of eight kilometres around the infected area. On 21 February, the European Commission announced a blanket ban on the export of any meat, milk products, or livestock from the UK.
On 23 February, a case was confirmed in Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, from the same location as the pig in the first case; this farm was later confirmed as the source of the outbreak, with the owner, Bobby Waugh of Pallion, found guilty of having failed to inform the authorities of a notifiable disease and banned from keeping farm animals for 15 years. He was later found guilty of feeding his pigs "untreated waste".
On 24 February, a case was announced in Highampton in Devon. Later in the week, cases were found in North Wales. By the beginning of March, the disease had spread to Cornwall, southern Scotland and the Lake District where it took a particularly strong hold.
During investigation of the Great Heck rail crash, which took place on 28 February in North Yorkshire, investigators visiting the crash site had to go through a decontamination regimen, to prevent possible contamination of the crash site's soil with the virus.
The MAFF adopted a policy of "contiguous cull" – all animals within of known cases would be slaughtered. This was immediately clarified as applying only to sheep, not cows or pigs. The policy of MAFF was that where affected carcasses from the cull could not be disposed on site, they would have to be taken to a rendering plant in Widnes; as such, the corpses of infected animals were taken through disease-free areas.
Control measures
By 16 March, the number of cases was at 240. Around the time, the Netherlands had a small outbreak, though the disease was contained by vaccination; the vaccinated animals would later be destroyed, in line with EU requirements on trading.
David King was appointed to approach MAFF policy in a scientific manner, alongside Roy M. Anderson, an epidemiologist who had been modelling human diseases at Imperial College and was on the committee concerned with BSE. By the end of March the disease was at its height, with up to 50 new cases a day.
In April, King announced that the disease was "totally under control".based on Not the foot and mouth report: everything Tony Blair did not want you to know about the biggest blunder in his premiership, Private Eye special report November 2001 The effort to prevent the spread of the disease, which caused a complete ban of the sale of British pigs, sheep and cattle until the disease was confirmed eradicated, concentrated on a cull and then by burning all animals located near an infected farm. The complete halt on movement of livestock, cull, and extensive measures to prevent humans carrying the disease on their boots and clothing from one site to another, brought the disease under control during the summer. The culling required resources that were not immediately to hand. With about 80,000–93,000 animals per week being slaughtered, MAFF officials were assisted by units from the British Army commanded by Brigadier Alex Birtwistle, the local regional commander of 42 (North West) Brigade. From May to September, about five cases per day were reported.
MAFF established six mass burial sites across the Britain. These were at Great Orton Airfield (Watchtree) in Cumbria - 466,312 carcasses, Throckmorton Airfield (Ridgeway Ground) in Worcestershire - 132,699 carcasses, in a landfill site at the former Widdrington opencast coal site in Northumberland - 133,772 carcasses, at the former opencast coal site at Tow Law in County Durham - 49,930 carcasses, at the Eppynt clay quarry in Powys - 18,000 carcasses, and within woodland at Birkshaw Forest in Dumfries & Galloway - 516,900 carcasses. A number of other mass burial sites were originally identified, but never put into use, these included sites at Penhesgyn landfill site on Anglesey, Chapman's Well landfill site in County Durham, and at Meeth in Devon.
Final cases The last case was reported on Whygill Head Farm near Appleby in Cumbria on 30 September. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) downgraded to "high risk" the last area to be denoted "infected" on 29 November. The last cull in the UK was performed on 1 January 2002 on 2,000 sheep at Donkley Woods Farm, Bellingham, Northumberland. Restrictions on livestock movement were retained into 2002.
With no new positive tests, the UK declared itself free of the foot-and-mouth disease on 14 January 2002, officially ending 11 months of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
Political effects The outbreak caused the delay by a month of the local elections in the UK. Part of the reason was that bringing together so many farmers at polling stations might cause extensive spread of the disease. However, more importantly, it was widely known before the outbreak that the Government had chosen the day of the local elections to hold the general election. Holding a general election during the height of the crisis was widely seen as impossible – Government work is much reduced during the four-week campaign and it was seen as inappropriate to divert attention away from management of the crisis. The announcement was leaked to newspapers at the end of March. Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed the decision on 2 April. Opposition leader William Hague concurred with the reasons for delay, and even suggested a further delay to ensure that the crisis was truly over (though it was alleged that he was hoping the Tories would be more popular and do better at the coming election the later it took place, perhaps because of bad government handling of the foot and mouth situation).) The general election was eventually held on 7 June, along with the local elections. It was the first delay of an election since the Second World War.
Following the election, Blair announced a re-organisation of the government departments. Largely in response to the perceived failure of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to respond to the outbreak quickly and effectively enough, the ministry was merged with elements of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions to form the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
European infections
Several cases of foot and mouth were reported in Ireland and mainland Europe, following unknowing transportation of infected animals from the UK. The cases sparked fears of a continent-wide pandemic, but these proved unfounded.
The Netherlands was the worst affected country outside the UK, suffering 26 cases. Vaccinations were used to halt the spread of the disease. However, the Dutch went on to slaughter all vaccinated animals and in the end 271,454 animals (135,127 pigs, 90,704 cattle, 34,861 sheep, 9,628 goats and 1,134 other artiodactyla, MKZ eindverantwoording Ministry LNV) were destroyed, resulting in significantly more cattle slaughtered per infected premises than in the UK.Royal Society of Edinburgh, Inquiry into foot and mouth disease July 2002
Ireland suffered one case in a flock of sheep in Jenkinstown in County Louth in March 2001. A cull of healthy livestock around the farm was ordered. Irish special forces sniped wild animals capable of bearing the disease, such as deer, in the area. The outbreak greatly affected the Irish food and tourism industry. The 2001 Saint Patrick's Day festival was cancelled, but later rescheduled two months later in May. Severe precautionary measures had been in place throughout Ireland since the outbreak of the disease in the UK, with most public events and gatherings cancelled, controls on farm access, and measures such as disinfectant mats at railway stations, public buildings and university campuses. The 2001 Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne, or Irish Dance World Championships, was cancelled this year due to these measures. Causeway 2001, an Irish Scouting Jamboree was also cancelled. Three matches involving Ireland in rugby union's 2001 Six Nations Championship were postponed until the autumn.
France suffered two cases, on 13 and 23 March.
Belgium, Spain, Luxembourg and Germany carried out some precautionary slaughters, but all tests eventually proved negative. Further false alarms that did not result in any culling were signalled in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Italy. All other European countries imposed livestock movement restrictions from infected or potentially infected countries.
Investigations Probable source The consensus is that the FMD virus came from infected or contaminated meat that was part of the swill being fed to pigs at Burnside Farm in Heddon-on-the-Wall. The swill had not been properly heat-sterilized and the virus had thus been allowed to infect the pigs.
As the virus was believed to be not present in the UK prior to the outbreak, and given there were import restrictions for meat from countries known to harbour FMD, it is likely that the infected meat had been illegally imported to the UK. Such imports are likely to be for the catering industry and a total ban on the feeding of catering waste containing meat or meat products was introduced early in the epidemic.