New animal pathogen laws placed before Parliament

The move comes in the light of the Callaghan Review into the 2007 foot-and-mouth outbreak which recommended a new regulatory framework following the escape of live virus at Pirbright.

The role of inspecting and regulating such premises will now fall on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) whilst Defra will maintain its role as a licensor.

The Callaghan review indentified a ‘conflict of interest’ in Defra’s role as regulator, licensor and inspector of the Specified Animal Pathogens Order (SAPO) as well as being a major customer of the research facility.

It concluded that an independent regulator could have avoided the leak of the virus with regulatory action to fix the faulty drains.

The SAPO licence allows companies like Merial Animal Health, which shares the Pirbright site with the Institute of Animal Health (IAH), to handle live viruses such as foot-and-mouth and bluetongue.

The new legislation will come into effect on April 28 and will begin a phased introduction of the new framework.

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