Foot and Mouth Scare in Uruguay
URUGUAY - Government officials in Uruguay, are investigation cattle in the north of the country, bearing the symptoms of foot-and- mouth-disease (FMD).
8 October 2008
1 minute read
According to a report from the Argentine Beefpackers Association, Agricultural Minister Ernesto Agazzi, said “officials have been alerted to the signs of FMD in four animals slaughtered at a domestic plant close to the border with Brazil.
In the first instance it has been ruled out that these animals had symptoms of FMD, but we have to be very careful and at this moment I cannot give any official comment, until we have the laboratory tests back”, the minister was talking to reporters in Montevideo.
Uruguay has been free of the dreaded disease since 2001, when thousands of cattle were slaughtered.
South America depends of beef exports and for Uruguay, they earn US$1.4 billion a year.
Foot and mouth can only be contracted by cloven footed animals, pigs, sheep, goats and cattle. The disease cannot be contracted by humans.
Uruguay has been slowly moving into arable farming in recent years, this year there have been millions of hectares go under the plough for the production of soy.
