EC Ups Budget for Animal Disease Control

EU - Commission Decision 2008/897/EC is providing a budget of €223 million to eradicate, control and monitor animal diseases in in the EU-27 in 2009, according to a new GAIN Livestock and Products Report from USDA Foreign Agricultural Service entitled EC Animal disease eradication; control and monitoring program for 2009. Top priorities will be Bluetongue disease, avian influenza and salmonella programmes, and TSE in small ruminants.
calendar icon 30 March 2009
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Report highlights

Commission Decision 2008/897/EC is providing a budget of €223 million to eradicate, control and monitor animal diseases in in the EU-27 in 2009. This 15 per cent increase over the 2008 budget is due to the wide spread of Bluetongue disease throughout Europe. Avian influenza and salmonella programmes remain high priorities. The decrease in spending for BSE is more than offset by increased costs for the monitoring and eradication of TSE in small ruminants.

General information

On 28 November 2008, the European Commission (EC) approved Commission Decision 2008/897/EC, providing a budget of €223 million to eradicate, control and monitor animal diseases in 2009. This ia a significant increase compared to the €186.6 million for 2008 and €193 million budgeted for 2007, respectively, while the funding needed for the fight against BSE is more than offset by the increasing cost for fighting TSEs in small ruminants. For some diseases like rabies, Aujeszky's disease disease and enzootic bovine leucosis, multi-annual programmes have also been approved in order to ensure a more efficient and effective achievement of the objectives of those programmes. This is in line with the new Animal Health Strategy for the EU (2007-2013).

The fight against Bluetongue (BT) disease

The fight against Bluetongue disease (BT) at €61.2 million is attracting the largest increase in funding. The arrival of BT virus type 8 (BTV-8) in 2006 has dramatically widened the spread of this disease from just a Mediterranean border problem to a disease that extends as far north as the Scandinavian countries. In late 2008 and early 2009, two more new BT strains were identified: BTV-6 in The Netherlands and BTV-11 in Belgium. However, both BT strains seem to be related to vaccination programmes with a vaccine from South African origin.

A map of the distribution of the different BT strains on the European continent is available on the EC web site (click here).

Salmonella control programs

The effort to bring salmonella prevalence numbers down remains an important goal in 2009. The EC is maintaining a high level of funding for this cause at €20 million. BSE/TSE monitoring and eradication programs The EU BSE situation is improving year by year due to a good implementation of the monitoring and eradication programs in most Member states. Nevertheless, a budget of over €68 million for 2009, compared to €62.5 million for 2008, means that the increased monitoring and eradication of TSEs in small ruminants is more than offsetting the decreases in funding for BSE.

Avian influenza surveillance

Surveillance for avian influenza in poultry and wild birds is continuing with financial assistance from the EU for laboratory testing and sampling costs for wild birds. A budget of €4,5 million is available for 2009.

This surveillance is most effective to detect early outbreaks of both high and low pathogenic influenzas and was extremely useful in past years, allowing early detection of avian influenza in wild birds before commercial flocks became infected.

Further Reading

- You can view the full report by clicking here.
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