Conservatives welcome EU's update of bluetongue vaccination rules
Posted, February 14, 2012 @ 12:00
The European Parliament today (Tuesday) approved new rules which will allow widespread preventive vaccination against the livestock disease bluetongue.
Previous EU rules only allowed a farmer to vaccinate if they were in a designated exclusion zone. This was because the vaccines were "live" and therefore could potentially spread the virus.
The rules made comprehensive preventive vaccination practically impossible.
Now "inactive" vaccines have been developed which pose no such threat, but the EU's regulatory framework is only now catching up.
After an initial attempt to update the regulations foundered last year over technical disagreements, legislators have been in a race against time to update the rules before the arrival of warmer weather and the swarming of midges, which spread the disease.
Richard Ashworth MEP, Conservative Agriculture spokesman in the European Parliament, said: "This is good news for farmers. Bluetongue can have a devastating effect on herds. It has caused large losses in cattle, sheep and goat across Europe.
"Although in recent months other countries have been worse-hit that Britain, our farmers will want to remain vigilant.
"Sadly, institutional wrangling meant that EU regulation did not keep pace with science - but now the urgency of the problem has finally been grasped and new arrangements ahead of spring and the midge season.
"Farmers will value the right to choose whether or not to vaccinate. Not all may choose to do so, but it is important that they have the flexibility to protect their herds as they think fit."