AUTHORITIES in Brazil are claiming that an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease
that threatens its multibillion dollar cattle industry may have been started
deliberately.
Brazil, which has the world’s largest commercial beef herd, is trying to
eradicate FMD so it can boost exports to North America and Japan.
The southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, the scene of the current outbreak,
had been free of the disease since 1994. But when 28 animals developed FMD there
in August, agriculture minister Marcus Pratini de Moraes announced that he “does
not rule out…criminals inoculating the animals in that area”.
Regional officials planned…
