Sir, - We are now witnessing on our television screens the grotesque pictures of huge funereal pyres, incinerating thousands of livestock carcasses infected with foot-and-mouth disease. A truly sad, almost medieval scene. The great plumes of smoke, seen for miles around. The smell of burning flesh, pervading the countryside. But this is necessary; it has to be done. The animals being burnt are carriers of a very infectious disease.
The wholesale destruction of livestock is also happening daily in this country, with the introduction of the purchase for destruction scheme. For very different reasons, some of the finest of our beef animals are being destroyed, not on colossal pyres, but in a more clinical, modern manner. Unlike the foot-and-mouth casualties, these animals are in the main perfectly healthy and BSE-free. We can fool ourselves and flippantly suggest that these animals have, after all, an appointment with a meat factory at some stage in their lives. But here we have wanton destruction and waste on a massive scale. Be it in fire or factory, the result is the same.
But, you may say, farmers have a choice: can't they opt to have their cattle tested and, if certified as BSE-free, sold for consumption? The answer is yes, but the reality is, in the main, no. There are apparently no open markets for such animals. Destruction becomes the only option. For most farmers, the idea of destruction is as heart-rending as it is for their foot-and-mouth affected colleagues.
The purchase for destruction scheme is ill-conceived. There is no logical case to be made that it will increase consumer confidence. The very idea is morally flawed. It gives the whole industry a very false sense of security. Nobody could deny that the beef industry has an extremely difficult marketing problem because of BSE, but the purchase for destruction scheme is not the answer. We need to spearhead an attack on the marketplace with a multi-million pound advertising campaign to convince the rest of the world of what they are missing, and regain our traditional customers. - Yours, etc., Gerald Potterton, Moyrath Castle, Kildalkey, Co Meath.