Poland braces for foot and mouth disease
The highly infectious foot and mouth disease has not reached Poland yet, but the country is extremely mobilised, Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski said in parliament on Wednesday.
Siekierski told MPs that "there's no foot and mouth disease in Poland" but there is "extraordinary mobilisation."
The disease has already affected farmers in Hungary and Poland's neighbour Slovakia.
Siekierski said the last case of the viral illness was recorded in Poland in 1971.
"Foot and mouth disease is a threat to food chains and causes economic losses," he said. "It's not my goal to create excessive concern, but the scale of the threat is really big."
Reporting on the tragic situation of farmers in Slovakia and their multi-million losses, Siekierski said: "In such a situation we need to consider the consequences of the disease appearing in Poland.
"We've introduced regulations on sealing the border even before the introduction of executive decisions by the European Commission," Siekierski said.
"On 10 border crossings we run 24-hour veterinary services duty, including a system monitoring animal movement," he said. "Disinfection gates and mats have been deployed."
All the animals that had arrived in Poland from Slovakia earlier are being examined and monitored, the minister added. (PAP)
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