EU vets plan fight against foot and mouth
Vets from around the EU are considering wider measures to ensure Britain's foot-and-mouth disease outbreak does not hit mainland Europe.
The EU panel is expected to extend a one-week ban on British exports of livestock, meat and dairy products.
However, Britain has already imposed its own export restrictions and banned domestic animal transports in an effort to contain the highly infectious virus.
Britain's Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has assured his EU colleagues Britain is doing its utmost to prevent the disease spreading.
"We are not going to export our problems to other people," said Brown, adding the export ban would remain in place until "we can demonstrate to our trading partners that we are disease free".
Britain's EU partners welcomed UK's actions to stem the contagion, including the slaughtering and burning of thousands of animals.
Nevertheless, other European nations are imposing their own emergency measures even though no cases have been found on the mainland.
"I was impressed by the response of the (British) authorities," EU Health Commissioner David Byrne, told a news conference, adding other nations were "very alive to the issue" and had quickly introduced countermeasures.
Dutch authorities have destroyed nearly 3,000 sheep, deer and other livestock that could have come into contact with infected British animals; Germany has slaughtered 350 sheep imported from Britain and is considering killing thousands more; Spain's Agriculture Ministry on Monday ordered the destruction of 540 pigs imported from Britain.
Although the disease is not dangerous for humans, it is easily spread among several species of animals including cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses and deer and can quickly devastate herds.
