Foot and mouth outbreak in UK same strain as used in nearby Government labs

The South of England is reeling with the news that there has been another foot and mouth outbreak.  DEFRA, the government organisation responsible for managing the agricultural industry has also stepped in with various embargoes.  This comes only a few years after the farming community was nearly decimated from a foot and mouth outbreak in the North of England. It cost the industry nearly US$16 billion.

Since the last foot and mouth epidemic was eradicated, farmers have been ultra cautious in hygiene, cleanliness and infection control.  There is growing disquiet within the community from the test results that this strain of foot and mouth is the same as the strains used at both a private lab and government lab only four miles away.  By all accounts these bugs may have travelled from the lab’s sterilisation and drainage systems maybe as a result of recent flooding in the area.

This strikes me as raising serious issues over the whole field of bio-security.  How far can we entrust organisations both private and government to safely work with virulent strains of infectious diseases or genetically engineered organisms that could escape into the environment and cause havoc?

I would be very interested to hear your views.

Penny