Foot-and-mouth disease: current world situation

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) has increased in significance as a major const raint to international trade in live animals and animal products as the Wor ld Trade Organization agreements remove other obstructions. A consequence w ill be reluctance to immediately declare the presence of FMD if it is thoug ht possible to quickly eliminate its presence and so avoid trade embargoes. This will predispose to spread of disease between trading partners. In add ition, as countries tend to increase the requirements for testing and certi fication of imported animals with the objective of reducing the risk of imp orting disease, the increased costs and delays that this involves will enco urage the illegal trade and therefore have the converse result. (C) 1999 El sevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.