Britain 'faces rabies threat from Europe' thanks to EU

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...at-Europe.html
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...-rabies-threat

KILLER disease rabies could return to Britain after more than a century if controls on pet passports are relaxed within the European Union, experts warned yesterday. Strict rules requiring animals to be blood tested for rabies before they are allowed into the UK will be scrapped next year as part of an EU bid to “harmonise” pet travel across Europe. Brussels officials claim that rabies, along with parasites, ticks and tapeworms, is now rare and poses little threat.

But vets yesterday warned that the new lax rules could mean infected animals brought into the country could pass on rabies to children because the disease is still endemic across Eastern Europe. Last night the Eurocrats were urged to leave the British system alone. Shadow minister for animal welfare Richard Benyon said: “The current arrangements have proved themselves effective. An end to these rabies measures could prove very dangerous and we must fight to preserve them.”

UKIP Euro-MP Paul Nuttall said: “Rabies is a terrifying disease. Nobody should be able to decree that British people be put needlessly at risk. Rabies has not been caught in the UK since 1902. We have to keep it that way.” At present, all dogs, cats and ferrets must be vaccinated against rabies seven months before they travel to the UK and must then undergo a blood test to ensure they are protected. But the new EU law, due to come into force in December 2011, will scrap the delay between vaccination and travel, as well as the blood test. It means owners will be able to wait to vaccinate their pets right up to the day before they travel and the animals won’t even be checked to see if the jab has worked. Rabies expert Dr Paul Burr said: “We are going to get cases of rabies in the UK just so that there can be harmonised pet travel.

“But dogs and cats are not my main concern. The people who are exposed are children as they are the ones that tend to get bitten.” Dogs Trust veterinary director Chris Laurence said: “The fact is not all dogs respond to the vaccine – about two per cent do not get immunity to the disease. That would mean thousands of dogs coming in every year who could have rabies. We don’t want rabies in this country – the consequences are quite dramatic. If there was a rabies epidemic, any pet dog could be seized and destroyed in accordance with emergency public health measures.”

If you want to see a rabies patient, although some may find it rather distasteful to view; http://blogs.dogster.com/vet_blog_in...es_patient.jpg

Rabies was eradicated in the United Kingdom during the turn of the last century and the last domestic death occured in 1902, although the disease still exists in Africa and Asia it is still found in Europe. As usual we are being forced to accept dangerous proposals from the EU commission and we have no say over them now. Even if the puppet EU parliament did reject these measures, the EU commission would just slide them through anyway with a Directive which the parliament does not vote on. The Eurocrats say there is little threat; if any child/person dies from this terrible disease then the blame will lie at their feet.

This is what happens when you sign away your sovereignty to an unelected body which contains many former supporters and even high profile members of the failed Soviet Union.

[Black_Apalachi]

There isn't even any point. We've been living fine with how the law regarding animal transportation is now so just leave it. If it ain't broke...

[jrh2002]

Theres plenty of mad dogs in the labour government so a few more would be great We cant discriminate against sick animals surely? I'm sure the human rights brigade must have a sister organisation for animal rights who mrs Blair can represent.....

I love going to europe but we must get out of this mad house NOW. The french and germans who are running the EU want nothing more than to ruin the UK and then we have our own idiots who want to wipe the country of ENGLAND off the face of the earth.

[wixard]

are you kidding me i got bitten by the spawn of satan like a week ago and it's all like, gross and infected and ****
everyones saying i have rabies and need a tetnis shot

and now THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THIS MAY BE TRUE??????????

[Richie]

are you kidding me i got bitten by the spawn of satan like a week ago and it's all like, gross and infected and ****
everyones saying i have rabies and need a tetnis shot

and now THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THIS MAY BE TRUE??????????

what the hell is that? and your in ireland... nothings been mentioned in Ireland yet

[Catzsy]

are you kidding me i got bitten by the spawn of satan like a week ago and it's all like, gross and infected and ****
everyones saying i have rabies and need a tetnis shot

and now THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THIS MAY BE TRUE??????????

Well they are not abolishing the passport but abolishing the necessity for a blood test before entering the country. Having said that the government has not yet made it's mind up whether it will comply with the ruling and it has 18months to do so. Just some more right wing propaganda to scare people from the mail and the express before the General Election, basically.

[Axel]

Off topic, but I saw this thread title and without seeing who posted, I thought 'this must be by Undertaker'.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Well they are not abolishing the passport but abolishing the necessity for a blood test before entering the country. Having said that the government has not yet made it's mind up whether it will comply with the ruling and it has 18months to do so. Just some more right wing propaganda to scare people from the mail and the express before the General Election, basically.

..because its being openly discussed. You may not like people hearing this sort of stuff, but we can have it and most likely will have it implemented on us using a directive which comes from the Commission. As there is an election looming, people want to hear from our elected government 'no, we will not endanger British lives with this terrible disease' and that is part of a democratic system. If it were propaganda as you describe it, it would be made up - this is not made up.

[Smits]

May not be made up, but it's completely exagerated.

[-:Undertaker:-]

May not be made up, but it's completely exagerated.

Wheres the exagerated part? - rabies can pass very easily and hence why people are often given a vaccine when they visit a country with rabies within. Once you have rabies I dont think its curable either, in other words your life is ruined and if you dont catch it early enough then you face a long and painful death. Its a terrible disease that we fought long and hard against to eradicate. Children where often at risk because they are small and often playful with animals such as dogs. Infact its that serious apparently the procedure if an animal contracts the disease is to instantly qurantine it and destroy it.