ID :
124669
Fri, 05/28/2010 - 09:42
Auther :

Lower house OKs legislation for fighting foot-and-mouth disease+

TOKYO, May 27 Kyodo -
The House of Representatives approved special legislation at its plenary
session Thursday that allows the government to forcibly slaughter livestock to
eliminate foot-and-mouth disease.
The legislation is expected to take effect upon approval at a House of
Councillors plenary session Friday in the face of the rapid spread of the
disease in Miyazaki Prefecture.
The legislation would allow the agricultural minister and prefectural governor
to slaughter even healthy livestock in an area designated by the minister as
the disease is rapidly spreading and cannot be contained by conventional
countermeasures.
The legislation is also designed to have the central government, not farmers,
bury slaughtered livestock and shoulder the cost.
In addition, it states that the government should compensate farmers for
slaughtered livestock and establish a fund for local economic revitalization.
Expected funding requirements when the legislation takes effect, such as the
cost of burying livestock and financial support for farmers, are estimated to
total 100 billion yen.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama expressed his government's
determination Thursday to wipe out the highly contagious disease crippling the
premium beef industry in Miyazaki.
''The government intends to work with parliament and the public to eradicate
foot-and-mouth disease,'' he told reporters.
The Miyazaki prefectural government said, for its part, the vaccination of the
livestock within a 10-kilometer radius of infected farms has almost been
completed.
==Kyodo

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