Tag Archives: foot-and-mouth disease
FMD: What’s in a name?
Say “foot-and-mouth disease” really fast. (Foot-and-mouth disease.) Did you blur the “and” into an “in”? Every comedian wannabe is having a hay day with this one. As my father-in-law says, you don’t need to know much to have an opinion. … Continue reading
Why worry about FMD here in Vermont?
Those of us working to build preparedness among farmers and farm communities to withstand a highly contagious animal disease disaster like foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) often get questions along the lines of these: “Don’t the veterinarians already have a plan in … Continue reading
Is there an alternative to burial and burning?
Yes. Anyone who has looked at pictures from the UK, Japan, or South Korea during their confrontations with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the past decade has probably asked themselves whether “we” would be better prepared or more effective in our … Continue reading
Bury our way out of foot-and-mouth disease? Think again.
To illustrate the importance of considering alternatives to burial as a carcass management option, Lori Miller of USDA APHIS, has made it easy to visualize some mind boggling statistics. Policy-makers and those qualified as incident commanders would do well to … Continue reading
Recent foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks deserve a closer look
Taiwan 1997 Taiwan was free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) from 1929 until 1997. An outbreak in 1997 spread rapidly among swine herds resulting in the destruction of 3.8 million pigs and loss of export markets. Taiwan now produces 6 million … Continue reading
Global Events Prompt Local Vigilance
Sometimes I am asked why we should worry about foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the US when we have been free of the disease since 1929. News reports, feature articles, and press releases circulating in recent months provide ample justification. To … Continue reading
FMD closes South Korea markets
South Korea was unable to shake off foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in 2010. As the third outbreak of the year continues into 2011, the cull in South Korea has now surpassed the total of the 2002 outbreak (160,000) by 4-fold, reaching … Continue reading
Normal Accidents Theory
Charles Perrow, Professor Emeritus of Sociology of Yale University, wrote “Normal Accidents: Living with High Risk Technologies.” He defines normal accidents as “the interaction of multiple failures that are not in a direct operational sequence” (p. 23). A good example … Continue reading
Butterwick Farms
Today I visited Butterwick Farm, owned by John and Lisa Roberts, in West Cornwall, Vt, with Cheryl Dorschner, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Senior Communications Professional. It turns out that the biosecurity project I am leading has been selected … Continue reading
Lessons Learned
Twenty years of safe deep water drilling did not excuse the oil industry for not being prepared for its recent disaster; 80 years without an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease does not let US livestock industries off the hook from having … Continue reading
