CYPRUS is in no danger of a foot and mouth outbreak, European Lab results showed yesterday.
Farmers had anxiously been awaiting the outcome of UK tests on a herd of sheep from Dromolaxia that had initially tested positive to the disease last Thursday. Yesterday, they breathed a sigh of relief when the London-based lab confirmed that there was after all no trace of foot and mouth.
After receiving the good news yesterday afternoon, Agriculture Minister Fotis Fotiou said the quarantine covering a three-kilometre radius from the farm where the suspected case was spotted would be lifted. He assured affected farmers that they would be compensated for their lost earnings during the quarantine.
But sheep and goat farmers fear the damage has already been done.
“This mayhem has affected us because following the announcement that there may be foot and mouth, our lamb prices automatically dropped,” the head of the Goat and Sheep Farmers’ Association, Panayiotis Constantinou, told CyBC yesterday.
The Dromolaxia farmer, Michalis Kotzialis, whose farm was at the centre of the scare, added: “For me, from day one, the matter was closed. I knew that the animals were clean but no one listened to me. I don’t know why all this fuss was created. For what reason, I don’t know what is hiding behind it.”
But Fotiou defended the government’s actions, pointing out all procedures were followed as set out in relevant European directives.
“All the measures that were taken by the Veterinary Services in the three-kilometre zone surrounding the suspected incident, were taken based on the results of initial lab testing and needed to been taken based on a European Directive for precautions and handling of foot and mouth disease,” said Fotiou.
He added that the affected farm in Dromolaxia, in the Larnaca district, would remain in quarantine for a short period of time until the reason behind the initial positive testing had been found.
Explaining the procedures, Fotiou said the Veterinary Services had carried out a routine check on the farm last Thursday and found animals that showed a positive reaction to foot and mouth in initial testing in Cyprus.
“Samples from the animals were sent to the European Lab in the United Kingdom for confirmation with specialist testing, as provided for under the relevant European directives,” he said.
The European Lab also confirmed an initial positive reading on the disease, raising fears that Cyprus was under threat of an outbreak, which would have had devastating effects on the island’s agriculture.
“However, the specialist tests that followed showed a negative result,” a relieved Fotiou said yesterday.
Commenting on farmers’ threats to sue the government for damage to their reputation, Fotiou said: “I cannot understand how every farmer in the quarantine area could be tarnished from the moment that no farms were named, nor any samples taken from these farms and sent to London. We just took precautionary measures.”
He added that the government had no choice but to take these measures. “We had to take these measures and you understand that if the results today had been positive, some would be saying that we didn’t take enough measures.”
What the government had done, said Fotiou, was exactly the same as any EU member state would do to protect consumers and ensure public health isn’t at risk.
The minister pointed out that no damages or compensation could be considered more important than public health.
