Editorial: Agency acts to keep U.S. free of disease

The U.S. Department of Agriculture acted decisively and correctly in banning imports of livestock and raw meat from the European Union after outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain and France. The USDA was not being unduly alarmist; other nations, including Canada, have done likewise.

The 13 unaffected EU nations protested that the ban shouldn't apply to them, an objection that was undercut when officials proposed a temporary ban on all cross-border livestock shipments within the EU. And USDA officials say they will consider lifting the ban on the other nations if, after a 15-day waiting period, there are no further outbreaks.

The ban is cheap insurance. The amount of trade affected amounts to about $400 million a year, mostly in pork products. The farm income alone from the U.S. pork industry is $11 billion a year. A single outbreak would result in other nations immediately banning imports of American livestock.

The United States has not had an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease since 1929 and Canada since 1952. These are records worth preserving.

-- Scripps Howard News Service

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