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U-turn over 'foot and mouth' lab

This article is more than 15 years old
Redevelopment of the laboratory at the centre of the last foot and mouth outbreak has been vetoed - raising fears over risks to animal health

A government U-turn has forced scientists to scale back plans to replace the crumbling Surrey laboratory that triggered the foot and mouth outbreak in 2007.

The environment department, Defra, has scrapped a pledge to fund a major redevelopment of the Institute for Animal Health (IAH) lab at Pirbright, where a leaky drain allowed the disease to escape. Experts say that the move threatens Britain's ability to combat the rising threat of animal diseases that will arrive with global warming, and goes against a key recommendation of an inquiry set up by ministers into the 2007 outbreak. Defra says that costs have risen and the project is now too expensive.

Professor Keith Gull, a microbiologist at Oxford University who chairs the IAH governing body, said the decision "leaves a big question mark over our ability to react to future outbreaks, at a time when we will be under increased threat from new animal diseases". The arrival of the ruminant disease Bluetongue in the UK in autumn 2007 demonstrates the risk, he said. Britain could soon face other new animal diseases such as African swine fever, which has spread to the fringes of Europe.

A report last year into the 2007 foot and mouth outbreak by disease expert Sir Iain Anderson said the Pirbright facility should be redesigned as a National Institute for Infectious Disease. Such an institute would unite work into animal and human disease. Anderson's report criticised "inadequate governance" of the Pirbright lab and "ambiguities of departmental leadership".

Defra's decision to withdraw promised funds scuppers plans for such an institute, and cancels an agreement it made in 2005 to redevelop Pirbright with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), which runs the IAH. Defra was to contribute £60m towards the new building and move about 70 staff there from its Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) in Weybridge, Surrey. The IAH, site of the only UK maximum-security lab for animal diseases, carries out basic research and disease surveillance. The VLA does fieldwork and leads the response to outbreaks. The BBSRC said it no longer expected to receive the money from Defra and was urgently reassessing the size and scale of the plans for Pirbright.

BBSRC chief executive Professor Douglas Kell said: "The scientific case for a new state of the art national centre for animal health research is overwhelming." An independent report found that IAH predictions of when and where the Bluetongue virus would strike the UK saved the nation £485m and 10,000 jobs, because it allowed effective preparation and early vaccination.

The Royal Society, Britain's premier scientific academy, has also called for a more integrated approach to avoid "fragmentation of research support and policy". In a statement this month, it said the redevelopment of the IAH site at Pirbright should be a priority.

Gull warned that a scaled-down facility would remain vulnerable to the organisational problems that contributed to the 2007 outbreak. "Defra has avoided the conclusions of the Anderson report and has gone for a short-term solution that shows it has failed to learn the key lesson that a more integrated, long-term approach is needed."

Hilary Benn, environment secretary, said in 2007 that a long-standing squabble over who should pay for the repairs at the Pirbright lab contributed to the release of the disease and its spread through local cattle herds. Government officials had known for four years that drains beneath the laboratory were insecure and that the virus could escape. Hundreds of animals were culled to contain the outbreak and livestock movements were curtailed across Britain, costing farmers millions of pounds.

A Defra spokesperson said: "The current plan to redevelop Pirbright dates back to 2001. It is no longer necessarily the best option, and the budget agreed in 2005 is predicted to nearly double. So it is right for the design to be reviewed to check whether it still represents value for taxpayers' money. Defra will contribute £5m of the estimated £10m cost of providing a temporary laboratory, and will continue to be a major customer for IAH's services." VLA virologists would no longer move to Pirbright, she added.

New health threats

Bluetongue

Endemic in northern Europe and only a matter of time before it crosses the Channel again, as happened in 2007. Spread by midges between livestock, which then develop a fever.

African swine fever

Deadly to domesticated pigs, with no treatment or vaccine. Reported in several countries in the Caucasus in 2007, from where it could head, through wild boar, to western Europe.

African horse sickness

Highly infectious and deadly to horses and donkeys. Outbreaks have been reported in southern Europe. Will come north with rising temperatures.

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