Foot and mouth source wait
Scientists today said it could take another 24 hours before they could identify the source of the foot and mouth outbreak in Surrey as the laboratories at the centre of the investigation continue to plead their innocence.
Both Merial Animal Health and the Government-run Institute for Animal Health, which share the Pirbright site, insist they are not responsible.
Speculation that the mild symptoms identified in the outbreak point to a virus used in the manufacture of vaccines is "plausible," according to Professor Neil Ferguson, a disease expert at Imperial College London.
A herd of 38 infected cattle at Woolfords Farm, just four miles from the joint facility in Pirbright in Surrey, was culled on Saturday along with animals on two associated sites - reigniting memories of Britain's worst foot and mouth outbreak in 2001.
In Shropshire, one of the county's leading agricultural figures launched a blistering attack on the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for its poor management of the outbreak.
David Giles, director of Halls Auctioneers in Shrewsbury, said there had been "no communication whatsoever".
"All that we know is what we have heard on the news," he said.
"The suggestion that lessons have been learned since 2001 as regards communication is laughable. I tried to ring Defra at eight o'clock this morning and they were closed."
Mr Giles said consequences of an indefinite ban on livestock movement would not take long to bite.
Chirbury councillor Heather Kidd, former leader of South Shropshire District Council, added: "I need to know how the county council is to keep in touch regularly with my ward, how often the website will be updated and how those without computers at home keep in touch.
"These things are vital to small, sparsely populated agricultural communities who are in difficulties."
By Rural Affairs Correspondent Nathan Rous
