NOVEMBER 23, 2008: British farmers have been urged to stop importing livestock fromNorthern Europe after post-import tests confirmed bluetongue has onceagain been brought into England.
Defra confirmed the results in one imported sheep on a farm in Gloucestershire and in a consignment of six imported cows on a farm in Dorset, with animals in both cases imported from France.The latest incidents take the total number of infected animals imported since August to 40 and farmers are being urged to ban imports until Europe has the disease under control.In Scotland, where a compulsory vaccination strategy got underway earlier this month, industry bodies called for a voluntary ban at the farmgate and urged the EU to revise rules preventing the Government from imposing its own ban.
