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Animal Disease Control:
Proposals for Legislation in Scotland
Annex A
SPECIFIED DISEASES
Foot-and-mouth disease
Swine vesicular disease
Peste des petits ruminants
Lumpy skin disease
Bluetongue
African horse sickness
Classical swine fever
Newcastle disease
Vesicular stomatitis
Rinderpest
Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia
Rift Valley fever
Sheep pox and goat pox
African swine fever
Highly pathogenic avian influenza
Annex B
Draft Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment
Issue
1. The 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak across Great
Britain (GB) had enormous financial consequences for livestock farming, other
rural industries, tourism and the government. It is therefore important to ensure
that any future outbreaks of FMD and/or 14 other specified virulent, and internationally
fast spreading, exotic animal diseases (see Annex A),
can be dealt with as effectively and rapidly as possible. Scrapie has serious
welfare implications for affected animals and the disease directly affects the
trade in breeding sheep and goats in the European marketplace. Scrapie itself
has not been shown to be a risk to man, however, there is a theoretical risk
that Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) may have infected sheep or goats
in the past and Scrapie could be masking BSE and, if so, measures would facilitate
action to protect public health.
Objective
2. The purpose of any Scottish Bill is to amend the Animal
Health Act 1981 and such possible legislation is a component of measures being
taken to protect Scotland’s livestock industry and to enhance the Executive’s
ability to respond quickly to animal disease outbreaks and minimise their impacts.
Any Bill would also reflect lessons learned during the handling of the FMD outbreak
in Scotland and would help implement parts of the Executive’s Response
to the FMD Inquiries1.
3. The possible legislation would provide for:
3.1 additional control measures principally to tackle quickly
any new outbreaks of FMD or 14 other specified virulent, and internationally
fast spreading, exotic animal diseases;
3.2 additional powers to eliminate Transmissible Spongiform
Encephalopathies (TSEs) in sheep and goats; and
3.3 a flexible and rapid response to a crisis arising from
evidence of BSE occurring naturally in sheep or goats.
Risk Assessment
4. Veterinary advice suggests that there is a credible risk
of FMD, Swine Fever and/or Fowl Plague (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) breaking
out in GB either now or in future. The powers in any Scottish Bill could assist
in containing a serious disease and eradicating it rapidly before becoming endemic.
5. There is a theoretical risk that BSE could be present in
sheep (and goats) and that it may be masked by Scrapie. BSE in cattle has caused
disruption to the livestock industry, loss of export markets and major consumer
concern. Scientific research continues and although it is uncertain whether
BSE exists in sheep (or goats), the additional powers within any Scottish Bill,
could assist in the rapid eradication of Scrapie (and, if present) BSE from
the national sheep flock.
Option 1
6. No change to existing measures.
Option 2
7. A new Scottish Bill.
Costs to Business
8. Option 1: Veterinary and epidemiological advice is
that no change to current legislation could mean that the measures in Scotland
are not sufficient to support quick and effective containment and eradication
of a virulent disease outbreak, thus minimising the effect on the wider economy.
An outbreak of an infectious animal disease such as FMD has potentially devastating
effects upon the livestock farming industry plus significant knock on effects
to other rural industries, tourism and the public sector. The Royal Society
of Edinburgh Inquiry into FMD in Scotland, published in July 2002, reported
that the 2001 FMD outbreak resulted in compensation payments totalling £171m
to cover the costs of compulsory livestock slaughter. The Report also suggested
that the costs to the wider agricultural sector through factors such as loss
of income while farms were without stock and disruptions due to movement restrictions
were approximately £60m. The outbreak also had a large impact on the tourism
sector with the Royal Society of Edinburgh citing a VisitScotland estimate that
the industry lost £200-£250m as a result of the epidemic. A project to determine
the full impact of the 2001 outbreak in Scotland has been commissioned by the
Scottish Executive led Economic Impact Assessment Group and is expected to produce
results in Spring 2003.
9. Option 2: In the event of a FMD outbreak or other
14 specified virulent, and internationally fast spreading, exotic animal diseases,
there will be associated costs to farmers and related organisations, incurred
for example through movement restrictions, disruptions to markets, etc. However,
the measures implemented by any Scottish Bill itself should not bring significant
additional costs to the farming industry.
Identify the benefits
10. The introduction of any Scottish Bill could bring the following
benefits:
10.1 new powers of entry (forcible entry, if necessary) to
enable an animal health inspector to gain entry to premises, thus enabling rapid
examination of suspect animals and thereby aiding rapid containment and eradication
of disease;
10.2 an extended power to slaughter animals, including animals
that had been vaccinated, for disease control/prevention reasons would address
the risk of animal disease spreading rapidly. Furthermore, a swift response
to a serious animal disease outbreak should help to minimise the overall impact
on disease control costs;
10.3 random inspection of vehicles within a biosecurity controlled
area will enable Scottish Ministers to enforce disease prevention and control
measures more effectively;
10.4 a new power to introduce an Animal Health Biosecurity
Code with associated offences, with a view to reducing the risk of disease;
10.5 provide the means to penalise for the new offence of deliberately
infecting an animal with certain notifiable diseases;
10.6 a new power for a Court to disqualify those convicted
of certain serious offences from keeping animals;
10.7 regulate the holding of livestock markets;
10.8 use of blood samples collected for one purpose to be used
for a different disease control purpose;
10.9 the compulsory genotyping of sheep and goats could help
to bring Scotland closer to its goal of fully eradicating Scrapie and, if it
is there, BSE.
Business sectors affected
11. The measures proposed by any Scottish Bill would directly
affect those farmers keeping farm animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs,
poultry and farmed deer. It would not affect domestic or companion animals,
such as dogs, cats or horses, although the susceptibility of any animal to a
major disease outbreak would need to be considered at the time. Should there
be another outbreak of FMD or specified virulent disease, some of the measures
would affect only those farmers whose animals contract the disease or are slaughtered
for disease control/prevention reasons. The measures would not impact more heavily
on small businesses and so would not be discriminatory.
Compliance costs for a typical business
12. Option 2: The introduction of any Scottish Bill would increase
penalties for breaches of existing disease control legislation.
Identify any other costs
13. Additional costs will arise from the compensation scheme
for infected premises and from any extended culling programmes carried out under
any new powers, including any culling of vaccinated animals. It is the objective
of any such programme to contain rapidly and eradicate the disease and so reduce
the total number of animals that need to be slaughtered overall. Such steps
therefore should minimise the overall cost of compensation, slaughter, disposal,
etc.
Results of consultation
14. After the responses to this consultation have been received
and collated, they will be summarised and this summary will be circulated to
consultees and available on the Scottish Executive website. The responses received
will be used to review policy proposals.
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