Britain is not ready for devastating animal disease disaster - and it could affect humans

Britain is not ready for an animal health disaster, with the country facing a shortage of both vets and vaccines. The UK's biosecurity weaknesses are laid bare in a hard-hitting report which warns of the potential danger to human and animal health.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is struggling to recruit and retain vets because of the mental health toll of culling animals, as well as issues around pay and conditions and working hours.

The National Biosecurity Centre at Weybridge has a "critical" role to play in managing threats from animal diseases but is in "poor condition", according to Westminster's cross-party Public Accounts Committee. It says any "major failure at Weybridge could mean that APHA is unable to deliver its emergency response during an animal disease outbreak".

The MPs also warn that border controls are not up to the task of tackling the threat of a new disease entering the UK via the illegal import of meat.

They are also concerned about the lack of a strategy to deal with "shortages in animal vaccines". Their report states that while the badger cull has been "largely terminated" a "new cattle vaccine seems to be years away".

Experts at APHA have worked to manage a half-decade-long outbreak of bird flu as well as bluetongue, but this has resulted in resources being diverted away from preparing for future threats.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who chairs the influential committee, said there must be "eyes and ears on the ground to detect oncoming threats quickly". He warned that "farmers have been left in a very difficult position with the prospect of bovine TB becoming worse once again".

Sir Geoffrey warned: "The bill for the major foot and mouth disease outbreak in 2001 ran into multiple billions for the public and private sectors. Serious animal disease outbreaks pose a severe threat to wildlife, and the farming sector, and in the case of zoonotic diseases, to human health. Our latest report should therefore be of the deepest concern to all of us."

Neil Hudson, a veterinary surgeon who now serves as a Conservative shadow Defra minister, said: "A disaster is looming, and the Government must step up these checks immediately. I know first-hand from my experiences as a vet in the foot and mouth crisis in 2001, that it is the costs you don't see on a spreadsheet that do the most damage, and I will not stop banging the drum on this until the Government listens and steps up to the plate."

There is concern that the UK has "lost access to the EU's animal diseases intelligence system, which provided almost real-time intelligence on animal diseases within the EU".

Richard Parr from the Centre for Wild Animal Welfare said: "This hard-hitting report is an urgent wake-up call. Disease outbreaks cause untold agony for millions of sentient wild animals, as well as endangering public health and devastating rural communities.

"The Government must urgently scale up capacity for surveillance and vaccination, to protect animals and the public from the menace of infectious diseases."

Richard Lewis, chief executive of APHA, said his staff worked 24/7 to "safeguard animal and plant health from a huge range of pests and diseases," adding: "We have successfully delivered disease outbreak response almost continuously over recent years, including managing the largest outbreak of avian influenza this country has ever experienced and managing the spread of bluetongue disease to protect farmers while giving time for vaccination."

A spokesperson for the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "This Government's commitment to maintaining the country's biosecurity in the face of the mounting risks of disease is unwavering. We're transforming biosecurity after years of neglect with over £1billion investment in a new National Biosecurity Centre that will detect threats earlier, track diseases faster, and respond more effectively to keep the country safe."