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Of course Gilles Grimandi means well, with his comments on
the Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) scare that appear on his official website diary today, and I swear I'm trying to write this reaction without sounding over-critical of the guy. But some of what he says is a bit ironic, and a bit unfortunate. And we can't let it pass
without comment.
Grimandi says "I think the trick at this time is that the government must give us proper, clear information on what's going on. That's the only way to rebuild confidence and avoid alarm."
Indeed. So why not include a link to the website of the
Ministry of
Argiculture, Fisheries, and Food, a government website which includes this very informative section on the FMD outbreak?
Unfortunately, it's Gilles himself who could be accused of spreading alarm. He says "it's becoming hard to know whether
to feel safe about what you eat," and "this is a time of low confidence in the safety of meat".
Well it shouldn't be, and it needn't be if people are careful not to publish alarmist-sounding things like that.
It's a time of low confidence in the safety of some animals: sheep, cattle, pigs, goats. But not in the safety of the meat which we eat. There is no reason for FMD to
raise fears about the human food chain. Although it is possible for humans to contract FMD, it's there has been only one recorded case in the UK, in 1966. And the symptoms? In humans it's short-lived, self-limiting, and a bit like mild flu with a few added blisters.
The reason that bacon's harder to come by is that pigs are being slaughtered and burned in order to stop them infecting other pigs. It's not that they're stopping us eating bacon because it's dangerous. They're closing areas off to people to stop US giving the disease to animals, not the other way round!
Of course like Gilles we're all worried about the animals, the farmers, and everyone else dependent on the industry. And rightly so.
Economically and socially it's a nightmare. Having known a lot of farming folk when young, it's understandable that Gilles feels
strongly about all this. But any suggestions that the outbreak has serious implications for human health should be nipped in the bud.
If you have trouble with Gilles' official website (seems not to
like netscape), you can see quotes from his diary piece
here on Total Football.
And all that without a single "Farmer Giles" or "Supergoat" gag.
Must be losing my touch.
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