A historical synopsis of farm animal disease and public policy in twentieth century Britain

Abstract

The diseases suffered by British livestock, and the ways in which they were perceived and managed by farmers, vets and the state, changed considerably over the course of the twentieth century. This paper documents and analyses these changes in relation to the development of public policy. It reveals that scientific knowledge and disease demographics cannot by themselves explain the shifting boundaries of state responsibility for animal health, the diseases targeted and the preferred modes of intervention. Policies were shaped also by concerns over food security and the public's health, the state of the national and livestock economy, the interests and expertise of the veterinary profession, and prevailing agricultural policy. This paper demonstrates how, by precipitating changes to farming and trading practices, public policy could sometimes actually undermine farm animal health. Animal disease can therefore be viewed both as a stimulus to, and a consequence of, twentieth century public policy.

Control of infectious diseases in dairy cattle

“…In addition, the government's lack of transparency, its handling of the scientific uncertainty that had surrounded BSE aetiology and government promotion of the interests of farmers over the public interest, severely damaged public trust in policy making. Efforts to harmonize trade within the European Union and to reform the common agricultural policy by reducing international trading barriers has led to an increase in the scale and frequency of international livestock movements, and the reappearance of FMD in several countries that were formerly free of the disease (Woods, 2011).…”

“…It is helpful to consider the history of disease control in the UK as described by Woods (2011) as an example when considering the input from government and other stakeholders in infectious disease control.…”

Paperwork and the decoupling of audit and animal welfare: The challenges of materiality for better regulation

“…Although there is a long history of British legislation to prevent cruelty and protect animals, it is largely principles-based, imposing broad duties on farmers rather than mandating detailed rules for animal welfare (Woods, 2011). To flesh out those broad duties and provide guidance as to what they entail, farmers were encouraged to follow voluntary, but recommended, codes of practice (e.g.…”

Learning from history, predicting the future: the UK Dutch elm disease outbreak in relation to contemporary tree disease threats

“…With an apparent proliferation of the threat from invasive pathogens owing particularly to the growing volume and changing technologies of international trade and the resulting opening up of new invasion pathways, we have argued that this historical experience can be a useful point of reference, both in demonstrating the possible implications of future epidemics and as a source of learning experiences for forest pathologists, plant health professionals and biosecurity policymakers. History is currently an under-used resource in public policy circles [34], but historically informed analysis can be helpful in shedding light on current problems and hence in lengthening institutional memory and public recall [35]. In seeking to reconstruct the 1970s DED outbreak in the UK, we acknowledge that the availability today of more powerful predictive tools like epidemiological modelling, together with the hindsight available to the scientists we interviewed, mean that the lessons that can be drawn at this distance in time are different from those that were deduced (albeit without very great official interest) in the immediate aftermath of the epidemic.…”