Kan sees spread of livestock disease as 'nat'l crisis,' vows efforts+

MIYAZAKI, Japan, June 12 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Saturday he considers the spread of
foot-and-mouth disease in Miyazaki Prefecture a ''national crisis'' and pledged
to do the utmost to contain it from spreading further as he met with local
livestock farmers and top prefectural government officials in the southwestern
Japan prefecture.
Meanwhile, the Miyazaki prefectural government said the five remaining stud
bulls in the prefecture tested negative again for the contagious disease just
as in the first test conducted last Sunday.
Kan told the farmers that the government will do all it can to help
rehabilitate the local livestock industry, saying the government will take
steps to reconstruct their farms in a responsible manner.
A farmer urged Kan to find out what caused the disease to spread and called on
the government to strive to end the epidemic at an early date.
While explaining that it takes several years to rehabilitate livestock
businesses, another farmer called on Kan for government support for the
reconstruction.
In talks with Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru later in the day, Kan said he
is placing utmost importance on stopping the spread of the disease and the
government will do everything necessary for the reconstruction of the local
livestock industry.
Higashikokubaru told Kan that he wants the state government to shoulder all the
expenses to deal with the disease and to extend full support for the
reconstruction of the livestock and other relevant industries.
The governor said about one-fourth of the livestock in the prefecture will be
slaughtered as a result of the disease.
Also Saturday, the prefectural government said the remaining five stud bulls
tested negative for foot-and-mouth disease for the second time.
The five bulls tested negative last Sunday in an examination for the presence
of antibodies, conducted by the prefectural government as a precautionary
measure, after they were found uninfected in two weeks of daily DNA tests
conducted earlier.
The five, together with another top-class stud bull, had been separated from
other livestock and placed under supervision following the outbreak of the
contagious disease among livestock in the southwestern prefecture in April.
The sixth bull tested positive on May 21 and was slaughtered.
Kan's trip to the prefecture followed new confirmation of livestock infected
with the disease in the cities of Miyakonojo, Hyuga and Miyazaki since
Wednesday.
The days-old government of Kan convened a meeting of its task force and decided
to dispatch additional Self-Defense Forces personnel and police officers to the
prefecture to strengthen disinfection work at farms and national highways
there.
The government has sent Takashi Shinohara, parliamentary secretary for
agriculture, forestry and fisheries, to the prefecture as chief of the local
task force to counter the disease, replacing Masahiko Yamada, who became farm
minister in Tuesday's Cabinet formation.
Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also visited the prefecture on June 1 in
relation to the disease.
==Kyodo
2010-06-12 23:50:39


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