Brown Boosted by Handling of Foot

Britain appears to be containing the latest outbreak of foot and mouth disease. Gordon Brown has done a solid job in his first six weeks in office handling crises from terror alerts to record floods, write German media commentators. He may now seize on the kudos he has gained with voters to call an autumn election.


Britain looks likely to be able to contain the latest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease far more quickly than it did in 2001 as it investigates two laboratories identified as the possible source of the virus. The labs, one of which is government-owned and the other jointly owned by American drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc. and France's Sanofi-Aventis SA, are located around five miles from Wanborough southwest of London where a heard of cattle was infected on Friday by an uncommon strain of the disease. It is the same strain stored and used by the labs for research and to develop vaccines.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown broke off his vacation on Saturday and returned to London to oversee the response, mindful that voters will be judging him on whether he handles the crisis better than his predecessor Tony Blair did. In 2001, the government was accused of not halting the spread of the disease quickly enough. About 7 million animals were slaughtered. The crisis had a devastating impact on farming and also affected tourism. It is estimated to have cost the country around €12 billion.
Foot and mouth disease affects cloven-hoofed animals, especially cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and deer. It is only very rarely contracted by humans and is not normally fatal to adult animals, but its commercial impact is enormous because it causes a decline in productivity -- the animals' milk yields may drop or they can become lame.
German newspaper commentators have praised Britain's handling of the outbreak this time around and say German authorities were rapidly informed of what farms had imported animals from Britain recently. Those farms are now being monitored. Gordon Brown, whose first six weeks in office have been something of a rollercoaster with thwarted terror attacks and then massive flooding, could seize on his growing reputation as an effective crisis manager and seek an early election, commentators say.
Conservative Die Welt writes:
"It suits Brown that he can present himself as a crisis manager and man of action once again so soon after the flooding and the thwarted terror attacks."
"The emergency plan has worked. There is justified hope that the disease can be nipped in the bud and that the damage will be limited. Once the danger is over Brown may well act swiftly again -- and call an election to profit from his current popularity with voters -- before a crisis emerges that he doesn't handle so impressively."
Left-wing Die Tageszeitung says the government is being cowed by big business in its handling of the outbreak:
"After the disease was beaten after ist last outbreak in 2002 there were major discussions about the future of farming. An investigative commission recommended a new 'national strategy' on combating disease, the agriculture ministry at the time announced a vaccination program because the pictures of burning pyres with millions of animals went around the world and weren't exactly image-enhancing."
"But nothing happened. The mighty alliance of the food industry and large farmers doesn't care about the country's image. The government has once again given in to this alliance -- just like in April 2001. At the time, Prime Minister Tony Blair decided on a vaccination program, 500,000 vaccination packs were ready. The program was stopped at the last minute because the food companies, led by Nestle, wanted it that way."
"Had they vaccinated, Britain would have lost its status as a disease-free country and wouldn't have been able to export animal products for at least a year. Nestle would have been left sitting on the powdered milk it produces in Britain for export to developing countries. Without vaccinations they were able to export three months after the last reported case of the disease."
"For the big farmers too, dead livestock is more valuable than vaccinated animals. The latter can't be sold, and there is no compensation for them. By contrast every burning pyre is worth cash to them. The most sensible alternative isn't even considered -- doing nothing. Foot and mouth disease isn't dangerous for humans and most animals overcome it after several weeks. But they can't be sold then. The disease itself isn't the problem. It's the reaction to it."
Left-wing Berliner Zeitung writes:
"The government doesn't want a repeat of six years ago when it was accused of having done too little too late."
"No one could say Prime Minister Gordon Brown didn't deserve a break after six turbulent weeks in office. As soon as he started his holiday on Friday, the British Agriculture Ministry confirmed the outbreak of foot and mouth disease. On Saturday night Brown was back in London to chair a meeting of the security cabinet known as Cobra. The government has good reason to resort to this highest forum of crisis management. The words foot and mouth in Britain evoke the grimmest memories. In 2001 it took the country months to stop the epidemic."