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12:57 p.m. PST, 04 August 2007

Live Animal Export Ban After FMD Find
Britain is moving to contain an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease by setting up an exclusion zone around the infected farm, west of London, and culling all its cattle.

The movement of all stock throughout the country has been banned.

More English farms are being tested for foot-and-mouth disease after an outbreak at a farm in Surrey.

Britain's Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has chaired an emergency meeting about the outbreak.

He says the government is doing everything it can to identify the source of the infection and eradicate it.

His predecessor, Tony Blair, was criticised for his government's handling of a 2001 outbreak estimated to have cost agriculture and tourism up to $22 billion.

The European Commission is to ban all live animal exports from the United Kingdom, along with meat and dairy products from the area of England affected by the outbreak.

Ireland has announced a similar ban.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry says people arriving from England can expect increased border security.

MAF says although this country's imports regime will stay the same, border security will be stepped up.

More sniffer dogs will be deployed, luggage searches will increase and particular attention will be paid to anyone who may have visited a farm in England in the past month.

© NewsRoom 2007