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Extra checks to halt bluetongue spread
12/02/2008
Farmers face fines of £5,000 or six months in jail if they fail to comply with new laws designed to stop bluetongue virus spreading to Scotland.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead, today outlined additional checks on livestock coming to Scotland from UK bluetongue restricted zones.
These animals will be checked to ensure that all necessary conditions have been met and that pre-movement testing has taken place. Post-movement testing will be performed on livestock not previously tested and any further necessary action will be taken.
The checks are in addition to the legal requirement on farmers to report the movement of animals from any restricted zone to the Scottish Government within three days of the livestock arriving.
Mr Lochhead said:
"It is crucially important to keep this disease out of Scotland for as long as possible. Movement conditions and pre-movement testing must be complied with vigorously to confine this disease to the south-east of England. Action will be taken against anyone breaching these regulations.
"The movement of livestock from restricted areas without the necessary tests present the biggest risk to Scotland. These checks will ensure that the necessary procedures for movement within the UK are fully complied with.
"The system will be kept under constant review and industry compliance with pre-movement testing will be monitored. If there is evidence of non-compliance our position will be reconsidered urgently.
"Our best defence remains with individual producers taking care to source their livestock from low risk areas wherever possible.
"The Scottish Government is continuing to work with stakeholders to keep our position on vaccination under review in the light of disease developments. Vaccination will first be used in England and we are talking to the Department for the Environment,Food and Rural Affairs to ensure that their targeting of vaccine helps maintain Scotland's free area status."
From January 17, the Scottish Government made it a requirement that all farmers receiving animals from any restricted zone should inform it within three days of their arrival.
On receipt of the notification from farmers receiving animals from a restricted zone, the Scottish Government will perform cross checks with the laboratory which performed pre-movement checks regarding testing, and with existing databases on animal movements. This cross-checking will pick up any moves made without pre-movement testing, which present the biggest risk to Scotland. For non-compliant moves, post-movement tests would then be performed and any appropriate action taken. These checks are specifically aimed at ensuring UK industry compliance with the conditions and pre-movement tests required under EU legislation.
Sensitivity of both PCR tests for BTV8 virus and ELISA tests for BTV8 antibodies are 99.9 per cent as conducted in UK labs - it is extremely unlikely that either test would fail to identify a positive animal.
All bluetongue tests within the UK are conducted at the same two laboratories - PCR at IAH Pirbright and ELISA at VLA Weybridge.
A breach of the Bluetongue (Scotland) Order 2008 carries a penalty of a fine not exceeding £5,000 or a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months.