Vets in Britain will be allowed to use their discretion to spare healthy cattle from being culled on farms next to sites infected by foot-and-mouth disease, the Minister of Agriculture, Mr Nick Brown, announced yesterday.
Mr Brown said cattle would not be slaughtered if vets judged there was "adequate bio security". But he told the House of Commons that "dangerous contact" animals would still be killed, and pigs and sheep would continue to be culled on neighbouring premises to infected sites.
Mr Brown denied the move was a relaxation of the government's culling programme, describing it as a "refinement".
The change in slaughter policy has followed a gradual decline in the number of cases reported daily by ministry vets, from 43 a day to 16, which Mr Brown said made the case for vaccination "less compelling".
He also signalled a wide-ranging review of the future of farming and the rural economy.
The Tory spokesman, Mr Tim Yeo, expressed surprise at the "suddenness" of the change in government policy and warned that "no risks should be run".
The move has led to a reprieve for a week-old calf which survived for five days next to its dead mother. The Prime Minister, Mr Blair, said the policy refinement announced by Mr Brown was decided in consultation with government scientists. He denied the change was in response to publicity surrounding the calf, called Phoenix.
Four more people in Britain meanwhile are being tested for suspected foot-and-mouth disease, a spokesman for the Public Health Laboratory Service revealed. The people's names or locations were not being disclosed.
Three people are already being tested for the disease. Results for all suspected victims are expected next week.
The slaughtering worker suspected of being the first human victim of the foot-and-mouth outbreak said he should learn on Monday whether he has contracted the disease.
Mr Paul Stamper (33) told the Daily Mail: "It doesn't seem real and I'm terrified of what it may mean." He also said he was misled about the risks to humans from the disease.