Little by little the pieces of the complex jig saw
puzzle known as the 2001 Foot-and-mouth disease epidemic are beginning to
fall into place, and a disturbing picture is taking shape. There have now
been 1624 cases of FMD diagnosed in Great Britain, and over 3 million
animals have been slaughtered. It all happened so suddenly and steamrolled
the UK countryside with such force, that there was little time for
investigation. But now in the relative lull in outbreaks, new details as
to the origin of the disease pose some serious questions.
The origin
The disease, which first broke out on Feb. 20, 2001, at
a UK pig farm, was originally attributed to contaminated
illegal foreign meat smuggled in for the Chinese restaurant trade, and
later added to pigswill. But on April
29, the Electronic Telegraph cited new evidence that portrayed
the Army as the source of the current epidemic. "The admission that
imported Army meat went to the farm at Heddon-on-the-Wall is the first
time that a potential path of infection has been identified," stated
the Telegraph. Tim Yeo, a Tory agriculture spokesman, described the Army's
disclosure as "a very serious matter". He added: "I never
believed that the smear against the Chinese restaurants had any
foundation, and it now appears to have been an attempt to divert attention
away from the real culprit." Could this monumental blunder be an
accident?
Other suspicious pieces of the puzzle cropped up in a
story covered by the Electronic
Telegraph on March 25 which disclosed that the European Commission
ordered the immediate testing of all its stock of foot and mouth vaccine
in January– a month before the outbreak
occurred. The same article quoted timber merchants in Staffordshire who
said that they were asked by Ministry of Agriculture officials in January
if they could supply timber for burning animals. Line
One then made the stunning announcement on April 8 that a vial of
FMD was stolen from a lab two months before the outbreak began, and could
have been released deliberately.
On May 15, National Farmers Union president Ben Gill
claimed in the Guardian
Unlimited that eco-terrorists may have deliberately triggered the
foot and mouth epidemic in Britain and other outbreaks around the world.
"There is no doubt foot and mouth spread to the UK illegally and,
unfortunately, we cannot rule out eco-terrorism," he said. The idea
was vehemently denied by environmental groups.
The objective
But the most frightening piece of the picture came from Cutting
Edge on April 26. The claim was made that there seemed to be an
eerie parallel between the FMD killing zones, and the UN Biosphere zones.
The map comparisons seem to suggest the possibility that the UN Biosphere
plan could be implemented through this horrific disease, an idea that Discerning
the Times introduced in a March
3 analysis.
Animal rights groups and environmental activists have
long blamed mankind for all of Earth's woes. In order to
"re-wild" the earth (i.e. restore it to the pristine condition
that it had before man destroyed it), humans must be removed or
restrained. This epidemic has managed to drive a full 1/3 of UK farmers to
throw in the towel, and thousands of sheep have been removed from grazing
areas. "The loss of sheep from hillsides as a result of
foot-and-mouth epidemic may be good for the rural environment," said
Morgan Parry, head of the Worldwide Fund For the Future (WWF) in Wales. (As
you may have guessed, Mr. Parry does not make a living raising sheep.) By
forcing farmers off their lands, many may have no choice but to sell out
to the government at fire-sale prices, enabling the government to create
reserves from them. So far, there is no solid evidence to connect all the
dots, but there are certainly suspects under the "umbrella of
suspicion."
Whether this is Prime Minister Blair's attempt to
implement the UN Biodiversity plan through a military-sponsored release of
the virus, eco-terrorists who want to save Mother Earth, or just plain
coincidence, the effects may all be the same. Governmental controls are
increasing, and plans are being made in parts of the United States to
declare martial law, if or when the disease strikes here. The biggest
losers in this battle are the farmers, who have had their livelihoods
stripped away and watched in horror as healthy animals were slaughtered
needlessly. Pray that the Lord will richly supply their needs during this
trying time. V bm
