Takac: No New Outbreak of Foot-and-mouth Disease in Slovakia Yet

(STVR, 'O 5 minut 12', March 30) No new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been added to the four existing ones, said Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) on STVR's discussion programme 'O 5 minut 12' (Five Minutes to Twelve) on Sunday. According to Takac, all the animals on the farms with confirmed infection will be killed by Tuesday (April 1) and compensations for small farmers for the animals they had to kill in the risky area should be resolved by the end of next week. Opposition MP Veronika Remisova ('Slovakia' party, 'For the People' and the Christian Union/KU), also on the show, criticised the minister for late and insufficiently communicated measures. "Concerning Slovakia, I can confirm that we still have only four farms that have been detected positive for foot-and-mouth disease," stated the minister. Next suspicions haven't been confirmed and the symptoms of the infection could have been caused by any other diseases, he said, giving the example of a farm in Galanta (Trnava region) where foot-and-mouth disease wasn't confirmed even after three times of testing. The crisis management team should meet over the current situation with the infection on Sunday evening and the government is due to hold an extraordinary session on it on Monday. Remisova criticised Takac for what she sees as late adoption of measures and insufficient communication with farmers, who lack information. She rejected the minister's claim that the European Commission in its monitoring report praised the measures taken in Slovakia to prevent the spread of the disease. "The Commission in the report stated that we should improve supervision, testing, disinfection, reproaches us for late vaccination, late adoption of measures, poor coordination, and for the fact that it failed to identify a central authority responsible for legislation in this area," said Remisova. The minister rejected this interpretation. "The measures were taken by the Slovak authorities in a timely and professional manner and in line with the EU legislation. Slovakia is managing the situation, but risks still persist," Takac quoted from the report. Remisova opposed that a complete translation of the report probably isn't available to the minister. ko