The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has revealed that the country’s ability to prevent a future pandemic has been “significantly enhanced” with the unveiling of an investment into a new National Biosecurity Centre.
Funding totalling £1 billion will aim to deliver the next phase of a new National Biosecurity Centre – a scientific campus in Surrey that will serve as the UK’s foremost animal biosecurity facility.
The investment is one part of the new National Security Strategy, which, Defra said, marks a step change in this country’s approach to securing British interests while also creating jobs, wages and growth for the British people as part of the Government’s Plan for Change.
Animal disease outbreaks represent a serious and increasing risk to public health, food security and the UK economy, Defra highlighted. Approximately 60% of all known human infectious diseases are zoonotic, meaning they can be transmitted from animals to humans. Furthermore, about 75% of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals, making the fight against these diseases about human health and security, too.
Without strong and modernised biosecurity infrastructure, Defra said that disease incursions could severely impact our farmers, agricultural production, devastate rural communities and disrupt key supply chains. The export of livestock, meat and meat products, dairy and animal by-products is worth £16 billion per year alone to the UK economy.
The funding will now aim to enhance the country’s detection, surveillance and control capabilities for high-risk animal diseases such as avian influenza, foot and mouth disease and African swine fever, while enhancing the UK’s ability to manage concurrent disease outbreaks.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed stated: “The first role of any Government is national security. That is why we are making a record investment into the nation’s biosecurity capabilities, and in turn our national security, after years of chronic underfunding.
“Farmers and food producers will now be better protected from diseases, our food security strengthened, and public health better safeguarded against future pandemics. This Government is getting on with delivering on our Plan for Change.”
“This funding is a vital milestone in the delivery of a world-leading facility that will protect the UK from animal disease threats.”
Jenny Stewart, APHA
Jenny Stewart, senior science director at the Animal and Plant Health Agency, said: “This funding is a vital milestone in the delivery of a world-leading facility that will protect the UK from animal disease threats for decades to come.
“Our scientists and specialists at Weybridge are at the heart of the UK’s disease surveillance and response capability and provide a global centre of expertise.
“Investment on this scale will enable them to continue their critical work in modern, fit-for-purpose facilities, supported by the very latest technologies.”
The new National Biosecurity Centre will play an “essential role” in addressing the full range of biological threats the UK faces, including from hostile nations, and will ensure that the UK retains the scientific capability, infrastructure and expertise needed to lead international efforts to identify, manage, and mitigate disease threats in the years ahead.
The high containment laboratories for animal health, run by the Animal & Plant Health Agency at Weybridge in Surrey, “urgently need renewal to handle escalating disease risks”, said Defra, which are growing in the face of the changing climate. The Government reportedly inherited laboratories in poor condition with their long-term future in doubt and the country facing increased risk without action.
The new facility will join a network of national centres set up by the Cabinet Office under the UK Biological Security Strategy and announced in the National Security Strategy. This new network of Government laboratories will aim to provide a sovereign capability that “keeps the public safe and is essential to responding to biological security risks”.
The network will also aim to strengthen and formalise existing collaborations between the UK Health Security Agency, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. It will reportedly ensure the UK is better prepared for a crisis, can respond more effectively when an incident does happen and deliver a more holistic approach to biological research.
Home nations “must have a joined-up approach”
A spokesperson for the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS), commented: “With the export of livestock, meat and meat products, dairy and animal by-products worth £16 billion per year alone to the UK economy, AIMS welcomes today’s announcement and the Government’s acknowledgement that ‘animal disease outbreaks represent a serious and increasing risk to public health, food security, and the UK economy’.
“It is our view that, wherever possible, all measures need to be taken to ensure that animal diseases don’t arrive in the first place. This will require more investment on border security at the ports and airports.
“Such are the risks of animal disease to the UK economy that there is, we believe, an absolute imperative that all of the home nations have a joined-up approach to disease control and not the fragmented position that we are going to see 1st July, with the Welsh Government’s approach to Bluetongue.”
Nick Allen, CEO of the British Meat Processors Association, stated: “We’re pleased that the Government has heeded recent wake-up calls sounded by foot and mouth and African swine fever outbreaks in Europe. However, as this new facility won’t be operational for another nine years, we must remain vigilant to the current bio-security threats and look to other ways we can protect our domestic food industry.
“The other angle to this is traceability. The reason FMD spread so widely and quickly in 2001 was that animal movements continued for several days after the first case was reported but there was no real-time digital system to track where they went. If you look at a visual ‘map’ of where all those animals went, it resembles a starburst fanning out from each livestock auction.
“We now have a system and the tools needed to be able to quickly shut down animal movements within the UK should FMD reach our shores. It’s called the Livestock Information Service. However, its use isn’t mandatory and, furthermore, movements only get notified AFTER an animal movement has taken place. In other countries, movement licenses must be applied for BEFORE animals are moved from one farm to another or through the livestock auctions, which makes it much easier for the authorities to control the spread of disease.
“We need Government to make the use of this existing traceability system mandatory for cattle and sheep and for licenses to be applied for in advance. Without that, the UK has no ability to lock down animal movements the minute a notifiable disease is discovered.”
