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Lumley attacks Government over foot-and-mouth

SHEEPLE NEWS: (Wonder what America will do?) "I secretly feel ashamed that it has taken us so long to get to this stage when the Dutch in only a few days have simply risen up and said we won't have it."

She said Britons had a tendency to trust the Government if it said things were being done. "The feeling now is that we cannot believe them. We must take this matter into our own democratic hands."

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_267938.html

Joanna Lumley has criticised the UK Government's handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis and called for an immediate end to the policy of mass slaughter.

The star of Absolutely Fabulous claims the public has been misled over the possibilities for halting the outbreak.

She told a crowd of several hundred animal rights protesters at Downing Street that slaughter was not the only option.

"The truth is, vaccinations today is the only way out of this hideous crisis. It is the only way we as a country can stand up and be counted.

"I secretly feel ashamed that it has taken us so long to get to this stage when the Dutch in only a few days have simply risen up and said we won't have it."

She said Britons had a tendency to trust the Government if it said things were being done. "The feeling now is that we cannot believe them. We must take this matter into our own democratic hands."

Opponents of vaccination say that it would cripple the exports market by ending Britain's disease-free status. But Ms Lumley says that as the UK's largest trade in meat and milk was within the European Union, the economic costs would be minimised.

The actress joined singer Lynsey De Paul and members of Compassion in World Farming to hand a giant letter to Downing Street demanding an end to the mass slaughter policy.

Ms De Paul said she had watched the crisis unfold with a feeling of total helplessness. "The pathetic sight of funeral pyres of healthy slaughtered animals when the disease itself does not kill and when vaccination had always been an option has left me bewildered and very angry."

Joyce D'Silva, director of CIWF, said the cost to the tourism industry of the foot-and-mouth crisis was far greater than the possible loss to the exports industry if vaccination was introduced. "

Last updated: 13:50 Saturday 21st April 2001

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