Lassay-Les-Chateaux, France — Foot-and-mouth disease struck France's farm belt Tuesday, confirming fears that a disease which could deal a harsh blow to Europe's already rattled livestock industry has spread to the continent.
The United States reacted by suspending imports of animals and animal products from the 15-nation European Union, and Canada banned imports of EU agricultural products. The EU itself moved to ban exports of livestock from France as well as livestock, beef and dairy products from Argentina, where foot-and-mouth was confirmed Tuesday in a cow in Pampas, a heavy cattle farming area in the country's northwest.
Livestock wholesalers demonstrate in Lille, France, against the government's ban on livestock transportation, a measure taken to prevent the spread of the foot-and-mouth disease. France on Tuesday announced its first case of foot-and-mouth disease.
EU experts said they hope the outbreak found on a cattle farm in the village of La Baroche-Gondouin in northwest France will remain an isolated case.
But French Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany said he fears further outbreaks of the disease, which was confirmed in Britain last month and has reached epidemic proportions there.
Foot-and-mouth disease spreads very easily and can be carried from one place to another by humans, animals or vehicles. Canada's import ban included used farm equipment.
Farmers in this region of verdant sloping pastures now dotted with police checkpoints to monitor traffic braced for the worst.
"It's really catastrophic," said Louis Loroux, whose farm is 1,500 yards from the one where tests showed two cows had the disease. "If it happens here, we're going to lose everything. All of our animals will be killed."
As he spoke, huge plumes of smoke rose into the sky: The 114 cows in the herd where the disease was detected had been slaughtered earlier in the day and were being incinerated.
Outsiders were not allowed into the area where the outbreak was detected, and hay laced with disinfectant was strewn along the main road in. Reporters were not allowed any closer than neighboring villages, including Lassay-Les-Chateaux.
French authorities were trying to contain the disease by slaughtering herds with suspected infections, a strategy that will likely result in higher meat prices.
EU veterinary experts who agreed to ban French livestock imports resisted calls for a vaccination campaign they said could have hindered tracking of the disease because vaccinated animals carry the same antibodies as those infected.
Experts said it was too early to assess the impact of foot-and-mouth disease on meat prices and supplies. But beef sales plummeted in the EU after a rise in mad cow disease cases last year, sending beef prices down by 27 percent since October. Unlike foot-and-mouth disease, which is not harmful to humans, mad cow can kill people.
The EU veterinary panel also banned the movement of all meat, dairy and other products from Mayenne and Orne, two administrative departments in northwest France.
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