Foot-and-Mouth Plague Threatens Trade and Travel

It is called fièvre aphteuse in France, fiebre aftosa in Spain, Maul-und-Klauenseuche in Germany and mundog klovsyge in Denmark. It is harmless to humans and does not even kill most infected animals. Yet foot-and-mouth disease was arousing anxiety throughout the world last week, and the virus that causes the ailment in pigs, sheep and cattle was closing borders, destroying livelihoods and bringing to a standstill much of the world's trade in beef, pork and lamb.

"We are on red alert," said Chuck Lambert, chief economist at the U.S. National Cattlemen's Beef Association as Department of Agriculture inspectors imposed strict checks on goods and passengers arriving from Britain and France. "We have to re-energize our systems and not be lax." From Sydney to Seattle, worried officials banned European meat imports, confiscated sandwiches and decontaminated arriving passengers to prevent inadvertent infection by a disease that, like everything else these days, is going global. Full Story...