Editorial: Agency acts to keep U.S. free of disease

Monday, March 19, 2001 | 9:33 a.m.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture acted decisively and correctly in banning imports of livestock and raw meat from the European Union after outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain and France. The USDA was not being unduly alarmist; other nations, including Canada, have done likewise.

The 13 unaffected EU nations protested that the ban shouldn't apply to them, an objection that was undercut when officials proposed a temporary ban on all cross-border livestock shipments within the EU. And USDA officials say they will consider lifting the ban on the other nations if, after a 15-day waiting period, there are no further outbreaks.

The ban is cheap insurance. The amount of trade affected amounts to about $400 million a year, mostly in pork products. The farm income alone from the U.S. pork industry is $11 billion a year. A single outbreak would result in other nations immediately banning imports of American livestock.

The United States has not had an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease since 1929 and Canada since 1952. These are records worth preserving.

-- Scripps Howard News Service