BVA Annual Welsh Dinner - Presidential Speech
09 July 2001
INTRODUCTION
1. Ladies and gentlemen, good evening and welcome to the BVA's annual Welsh dinner. By way of an introduction BVA is the national representative body for the profession. Our chief interests are standards of animal health, veterinary surgeons working practices, quality of service and relations with external bodies particularly government.
2. We have over 10,000 members which is about three quarters of working vets in the UK. We are often confused with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Their statutory role is to protect the public by ensuring proper standards of education and professional conduct. In short they have to deal with bad vets and we promote good vets!
AGRICULTURE
3. So much for the Association. I turn first to agriculture and no one needs reminding about the events over the last six months. Farming has been brought to its knees as has tourism in rural areas. More than three and a half million animals have been slaughtered. There are indelible marks in the public's mind as a result of saturation coverage of this terrible event.
4. I have great difficulty in covering such a major problem in so short a time; to convey the scale and ferocity of the outbreak to say nothing of the misery and anguish that it has caused. It is by no means over yet and restocking will bring yet more problems I fear.
5. I need to try and widen my remarks to help look forwards. My simple and stark message tonight is related to dealing with government. It is this. Do not expect anything, so push for everything and hope to achieve something.
6. About a year ago the then Minister for Agriculture Nick Brown sought to examine the scope for reducing input costs to agriculture and increasing the effectiveness with which inputs are used. The review was chaired by Sir John Marsh who also chaired, at the same time, a review of the dispensing of medicines by veterinary surgeons. Both reviews were spawned by the Prime Minister's action plan for farming to help farmers cut costs.
7. The agricultural report concluded inter alia that it seemed that many farms did not have a detailed understanding of their input costs and therefore the cost per unit of production. We vets found the same message applied to us in dispensing medicines since the real cost of running a pharmacy within practice was much higher than thought.
8. Whilst that discovery was something of a revelation the other principal finding by Sir John in both his reports was and I quote: "Agreeing the broad objectives of regulation at an EU level should enable a single system to operate throughout the EU market. However national agencies apply EU principles within their own communities differently. A more efficient market would be created if single Community wide regulatory systems replaced the complexity of separate national authorisations. Under such a system, materials authorised for sale in one EU country should be presumed to be lawful for sale in any other provided conditions attaching to the authorisation are fully observed. This should be a priority consideration for the UK Government as it considers, with other countries, the future of pesticides, veterinary medicines and health and safety regulation within the EU. Both the Government and farming organisations should ensure that their views are fed in at the beginning of discussions on proposals and that once an EU Directive has been agreed the UK should not embellish it to the competitive disadvantage of UK farmers".
GOVERNMENT
9. We wholeheartedly agreed with Sir John Marsh here. We and farmers must do something about costs but government must do something about the costs of unnecessary regulation. So will they? A clue which sadly heralded little response was contained in the Labour Party's manifesto which, discussing urban renewal, noted that 80% of people live in urban and inner city Britain. Whilst that is true FMD has demonstrated that rural issues affect us all.
10. To be fair FMD got a mention in the manifesto stating that the priortity is to eradicate the disease as quickly as possible and that a strategy for recovery includes a scientific review of how to prevent animal disease occurring in the future together with tough rules to back this up. We shall see.
11. Labour also promised in its election manifesto that it would form a new Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), but the speed with which it happened took many by surprise. On the Saturday immediately after the election, workmen were removing MAFF's nameplate from the entrance to its headquarters in Smith Square in London and replacing it with one which says DEFRA. The ministry which had for so long been associated with farming and food production was suddenly no more.
12. Not only is the word 'agriculture' missing from the new department's title but, in a list of five aims provided by ministers, 'promoting sustainable and diverse farming and food industries that work together to meet the needs of consumers' comes last. The other aims emphasise DEFRA's role in promoting 'a better environment', 'thriving rural economies and communities' 'diversity and abundance of wildlife resources' and 'a countryside for all to enjoy.' The talk now is not so much of agriculture and food production, but of sustainability, environmental protection, 'greening of Government', stewardship of the countryside and 'agri-environment' (whatever that means).
13. The emphasis on the environment will be welcomed by many and there is much to be said for an integrated approach. Veterinarians have a contribution to make as the emphasis shifts towards sustainability and care of the environment. Veterinary expertise extends across a wide range of disciplines and, by taking a holistic approach, they are well placed to provide practical advice as alternative systems are developed. In the meantime, the inclusion of wildlife and various animal welfare issues under the DEFRA umbrella should provide an opportunity to move forward in a number of areas where progress has been hampered as a result of responsibilities being split between different government departments.
FMD
14. But controlling FMD does not depend on national juggling of departments or whether the word agriculture is erased. It demands a response more rapid than the spread of the disease itself. I will return to this point later.
15. According to the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) there are currently over 50 member countries which are FMD free and a number of others which are recognised as having FMD disease free zones. Until the outbreak of the current epidemic, the United Kingdom was among those members states which were recognised as disease free and, as such, are able to trade freely in both animals and animal products.
16. Loss of our FMD free status occurred at a time when the globalisation of trade had never been greater, with increased movements of both animals and animal products between countries and weakened phyto-sanitary barriers. The outbreak is almost certainly a consequence of this increased world trade, with the disease having been imported to the UK from a country where it was present.
17. Allied to this increased globalisation of trade is the fact that the UK was exposed at the time of the outbreak to a higher level of risk than ever before. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, within the European Union, the UK has succeeded in persuading other member states to adopt some of the more rigorous methods of disease control and prevention. This change in EU policy has resulted in the risks from FMD being increased until such time as there is massive rigour in the control methods. With the likely future enlargement of the Union through the inclusion of less developed eastern European countries these risks are likely to increase.
18. Secondly, the increased passage of animal products through a number of countries and poor traceability means that it is often difficult to establish the exact country of origin where the animal was raised; and thirdly there is an ever-increasing movement of people and vehicles between countries with the subsequent increased risk from the importation of FMD by mechanical means.
19. There are three possible solutions to this problem of increased risk - to stop the trade, to inspect everything at port or to reduce the risk by increased surveillance. However, the first of these options is politically unacceptable. The second likewise and it would not solve the problem of diseases which were not detectable at border inspection. The only realistic solution to reducing this risk is by means of increased vigilance. This is an area in which the veterinary profession can play a key part.
20. These are matters that require policy decisions at national level. On the ground there are policy considerations as well. During the 67/68 outbreak it was a far easier matter to go from diagnosis to disposal on farms. The current outbreak has incorporated input from bodies and agencies such as the Environmental Agency and the Health and Safety Executive and this has presented its own set of problems.
21. As a veterinary association we were not running the outbreak but our members were involved from the beginning. We encouraged the profession to volunteer as TVIs for the State Veterinary Service and BVA at the centre provided daily information, constant and comprehensive liaison with all parties involved and gave 1,000 interviews over 10 weeks. The outbreak placed considerable demands on the BVA, and stretched its resources to the limit and like MAFF and the NFU all other work ceased.
BSE
22. A few words about BSE. The cumulative total of BSE cases in Great Britain was 178,006 at 29/06/01 of which 42,367 were born after the ban on ruminant protein in cattle feed (18/07/88). JANE, PLEASE UPDATE FIGURES HERE. Starting with a blank sheet of paper in the mid 80s and a brand new disease in cattle never previously described, the veterinary profession - public and private sectors including research - has brought under control the epidemic of BSE which saw 32,000 cases in one year at its peak.
23. We are now seeing the tail of the epidemic with numbers falling by 37% in 2000, which was broadly in line with predictions. In 2000 there were 1147 cases, in 2001 the prediction is 490 and in 2002 about 170. There is no doubt that the tail of the epidemic would have been much shorter if the visionary measures put in place in 1988 to control the disease in cattle had been properly policed and enforced. These measures were re-enforced in August 1996.
24. No cattle over 30 months of age enter the human food chain. A survey of almost 10,000 older cattle slaughtered in Great Britain in 2000 found 39 or 0.41% tested positive for BSE. The tight regulations in slaughterhouses, knackers and hunt kennels, incinerators and rendering plants are well enforced. The results of the feed survey have been very encouraging, indicating a widespread compliance with the feed ban. Since Feb 1996, 74,000 samples have been tested, of which 99.76% tested negative for mammalian protein.
SURVEILLANCE
25. The crucial importance of the need for veterinary surveillance could not be better exemplified by the history of the BSE/vCJD story. The possibility that a new or novel variation of an animal disease may be a potential zoonosis must never be overlooked or dismissed. The high level of public awareness of problems in the food chain has focused on problems which start on the farm and the assurance the public require must start with increased surveillance at the farm.
26. Surveillance is equivalent to quality assurance of livestock production. The public will increasingly expect adequate and documented protection from animal diseases and intoxications in the food chain. Retailers and buyers will demand quality assurance and the livestock industry must help provide that assurance by the development of individual farm health plans, adequate monitoring and meaningful veterinary involvement. Increased movement of animals means an increased movement of animal diseases and surveillance must be properly resourced to be effective.
FARM ANIMAL PRACTICE
27. The future viability of farm animal practice was a matter for concern even before BSE and FMD. It is vital, in the interests of animal and public health, as well as animal welfare, that a veterinary presence is maintained on farms but, ironically, despite recent food scares and the emphasis being placed on food safety and quality, such a presence is becoming harder to achieve.
28. It is no surprise to learn from the manpower survey that the number of women entering the profession continues to increase. In 1998, 57 per cent of veterinarians under the age of 30 were female, last year this figure was 61 per cent. The trend is set to continue, with women now comprising 68 per cent of undergraduates at the veterinary schools. The impact of this increasing proportion of women has yet to be fully realised, but with 12 per cent of female veterinary surgeons currently working less than 20 hours per week, the profession of the future will, undoubtedly, have to embrace the concepts of part-time working and career breaks more fully than it does at present.
CONCLUSIONS
29. To conclude we have no blue print for the future. I do not envisage my Council making dramatic calls for a Phillips style public inquiry into FMD. But I do envisage a call for a better way forward to combat disease that is both occurring at home and coming from abroad.
30. We are not prepared. The public will not swallow a repeat of such massive slaughter and the sight of funeral pyres across the land. New contingency plans are needed now - a plan for when things go right and a plan for when things go wrong.
31. Its time to improve the links between the State Veterinary Service and the private practitioner. There were about 220 vets in the SVS but at the height of the outbreak about 1600 were employed. A much better arrangement is needed. Vets may be advisory in normal times when disease strikes they take executive action.
32. We need a National Veterinary Service to link public and private sector vets together into a manageable coordinated and efficient body. The present arrangements are archaic. Terms and conditions are archaic and even the basis of employment is archaic.
33. We need adequate surveillance, an adequate budget and an efficient well-trained veterinary profession to prevent and control disease. The FMD outbreak has brought this home in the starkest of ways. I have to finish by saying expect nothing, push for everything and this time, because of FMD, we should achieve something.
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