Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-17-Speech-2-022"
Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
---|---|
rdf:type | |
dcterms:Date | |
dcterms:Is Part Of | |
dcterms:Language | |
lpv:document identification number |
"en.20021217.1.2-022"2
|
lpv:hasSubsequent | |
lpv:speaker | |
lpv:spokenAs | |
lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, the end of December is a time for drawing up a balance: what went well this year, what went wrong, and what needs improving. Sometimes one’s conclusion is: if only I had … After a year of the Temporary Committee on Foot and Mouth Disease I conclude: if only we had not agreed the policy of non-vaccination in 1991!
The costs of that policy have been greatly underestimated. But worse still is the fact that the non-vaccination policy with the accompanying culls where there is an outbreak, fails to meet any ethical test. Mr President, Noah’s ark was filled not with production factors, but with living creatures. As the stewards of creation we must take that to heart.
Parties who do not wish for such a test, should pay the penalty at the ballot box for the consequences of a foot and mouth outbreak. Much more far-reaching consequences than simply economic ones are involved. To call the combating of the foot and mouth crisis a veterinary success, as has been suggested from the liberal side, is to lose all sense of proportion.
The combating of foot and mouth was
a success, neither veterinary, nor economic, nor in terms of communication. The report admits that. An exception is a clause on Friesland, where according to the draft text there was optimum involvement of regional experts. Fact and fiction have been confused here. An amendment that I submitted jointly with fellow MEPs Mr Maat and Mr De Roo attempted to restore a correct version of events.
For years prophylactic vaccination protected our livestock. The argument that vaccination is pointless because of the number of variants of the foot and mouth virus is about as cogent as maintaining that flu jabs in human beings do no good. If we consider the real costs of the non-vaccination policy, only one conclusion remains, moreover: preventive vaccination is not only the most ethical but also the most economical solution.
In conclusion I should like to compliment the rapporteur on his courageous, lucid and valuable report."@en1
|
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples