Your opinions on FMD please!

i thought the piece made some good points. eric may seem an idealist perhaps, but then more people should be. i’m interested by the general notion that the world is to a large extent no longer controlled by politicians but by business [the awarding of the olympic games to china is evidence enough that this is the case]. it's a dispiriting thought. eric i think suggests that these corporations can dominate only with our support. you could perhaps extend this to say that to not exercise our choice as consumers on the grounds that it makes no difference, is akin to not voting in elections on the grounds that a single vote won’t change the outcome. the problem may be that there is not always an identifiable ethical option as far as FMD goes, i think most would agree that it was handled by people who gave the impression that they were suffering from Arse & Elbow Disease…

I haven't read your essay yet, Eric, although I will asap. Just a viewpoint from the continent...most people here in Holland thought the outbreak was handled very incompetently in the UK. As you probably know, we had a few cases here, but vaccination was implemented almost immediately, as a consequence of which the disease was (hopefully) totally eradicated in The Netherlands within a relatively short space of time. I visited Blighty in May and, on my return, everyone was searched (for illegal bangers, no less!) by the army on arrival at the Hoek, whereas when I came back from another visit at the end of August, we were let through freely with no checks. As I understand it, the reason the UK didn't want to vaccinate, was because they'd then lose their 'disease free' status, which seems somwehat absurd, given the fact that said disease was rampant anyway. I dunno, it's a fine kettle of fish, that's for sure, when you're busted for bangers...

An astoundingly excellent essay, Eric.

Hello again, Eric, After reading that quite humorous short story you suggested reading on another one of these discussion posts thingys, I thought I'd read another one that you pointed out! I must say that, even though I'm an arrogant American and I don't care what goes on overseas, you have made some very well-thought out points in your essay! Even though all I know about foot and mouth disease came from CNN, I learned quite a lot about the entire thing. Nicely worded essay, Eric! You should get that novel published. And just so you don't feel left out, considering that I gave one to Jellteaser, you may have a Special Honorary Hedgeapple Award since you didn't get cherried, either. (I didn't know we did that to our cows! CNN didn't tell me that!) I'm going to read those other essays that you suggested within your essay soon! If you have any other things that you would like me to read, just tell me! Oh! And I have a message for the web designer! I noticed that whenever there's a "%" sign in a story, that it's preceeded by a "\" sign. It's either some type of fault, a coincidence, or a government conspiracy.

Dear Donignacio and Andrea Many thanks for your kind words and information! I do admire the way the Dutch handled FMD. Donignacio you might want to read my travelogue about South Africa. I've received more praise for this than for anything else, and some well-deserved criticism for the over-written bit about my getting my hair cut! I now cringe when I re-read it! http://www.abctales.com/abcplex/viewStory.cgi?s=4075 Cheers Eric

Undoubtedly a government conspiracy. Couldn't possibly be anything to do with ABC. Perish the thought...

A good piece Eric although the tenous link to globilisation rather spoilt it for me. by definition globilisation affects all countries yet the fmd outbreak (in western europe) was confined to GB. The last outbreak here was in the 60's when we were still a nation of corner shopkeepers and globilisation was only thought of in the context of 1984 and Big Brother. FMD was handled appallingly (and still it goes on 2 months after the election and the famous 'britain is open' quote) due to the complacency of MAFF, the failure to implement past contingency plans (they knew about it weeks if not months before it made the headlines) and this governments preoccupation with image over content and action. Our irish and European neighbours had more sense and prevented it's spread by taking drastic and immediate action. If we are not careful Globilisation will be blamed for all our current woes which can only lead to the dilution of the original and quite separate argument. please don't take this the wrong way.... I do enjoy your work .... look upon me as a catalyst or..... depending on the strength of your reply .... a sacrificial anode. :-)

Thanks, Stormy! I appreciate your comments, as I had hoped that there would be some controversy in this thread! However I do believe that low welfare standards _are_ related to globalisation (OK, "unrestricted international trade"), and that these low standards contributed to the current outbreak. Farmers argue that it is not fair for them to have to implement costly high standards of animal welfare in the UK when consumers here tend to buy the cheapest meat, produced under poor conditions overseas. This is a matter of consumer education, and of raising the income of the poorest in society. There is a welter of convincing evidence that economic disparity _is_ related to the forces of globalisation. Incidentally, the tendency for poverty to determine what people buy is illustrated by the incidence of new-variant CJD. The theory is that the higher levels of poverty in Scotland and northern England mean that people in these areas buy lower quality meat and so were more exposed to the BSE agent and accordingly have twice the incidence. The most recent relevation in the FMD saga makes me feel a bit less antagonistic towards the scientists involved. Apparently the government Chief Scientist, Prof. David King, was arguing for vaccination in April, but the farmers opposed it! Any farmers, vets or politicians want to get stuck in?

Hello, Eric! So sorry that I took so long to read your travelogue about South Africa! Quite a nice travelogue, it was incredibly interesting. I stayed up reading it (I should be sleeping right now!) I wish I could write like you! (The part about the haircut wasn't all that bad, don't worry!)