On Sun, 1 Apr 2001, Michael Perelman wrote:
> > Vaccinating against hoof and mouth was made illegal in Europe 10 years
> > ago. Does anyone know the original reasoning behind that decision -- why
> > it was chosen over a system of vaccination, inspection and certification?
>
> Once an animal is vaccinated, it will test positively for the disease.
That problem could be just as easily solved by certification, no? According to an article (in the Feb 8 2001 London Review of Books -- unfortunately not online) by the surprising Edward Luttwak (I certainly never took him for cattle rancher, much less a Bolivian one), they have a working certification regime on the jungle border between Bolivia and Brazil -- a place where they don't even have custom or passport control, which is paid for entirely by associations of ranchers. And this by ranchers whose veterinary costs are otherwise so neglible by northern standards that Luttwak argues they constitute an different economic system of meat raising.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com