Tighter Quarantine Needed

Let's Control Spread of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

The nation has been placed on a higher alert over foot-and-mouth disease after the highly contagious animal epidemic broke out for the second time this year. The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries raised its alert level to orange, the second-highest, to contain the spread of the virus Saturday. The measure came two days after the first of the latest five cases hit a cattle farm on Ganghwa Island, 40 kilometers west of Seoul.

What's critical to fighting the epidemic is to take quick and decisive action to bring the disease under control and prevent its spread to other areas. In this regard, the authorities have taken necessary quarantine measures, including expanding the target area for preventive culling to a 3-kilometer radius around the affected farm from the previous 500 meters. On Sunday, they started culling more than 25,000 farm animals. They have also installed roadblocks to control the movement of humans and vehicles into and out of the virus-hit areas, spraying them with disinfectant.

But public worries are growing as the disease shows little signs of dying down any time soon. We have to raise the question of whether the state and regional authorities could have put a tighter quarantine system into operation to combat the epidemic at an earlier stage. Critics note that the ministry should have worked together with the local government more closely in order to avoid any holes in the preventive networks. It's time to make all-out efforts to produce more successful results in the fight against the foot-and-mouth disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, deer and goats.

The authorities cannot avoid criticism that they have somewhat loosened their guard against the virus since they declared March 23 that the previous outbreak, which occurred in Pocheon, north of Seoul, in January, came to an end after culling about 6,000 animals. It was too early to lower their guard because there were possibilities of a recurrence. The earlier attack cost the nation 42.4 billion won ($37.9 million) but the government has failed to take sufficient measures to set up a watertight quarantine system to prevent any further case.

Instead, the authorities had sought to regain its ``foot-and-mouth-free status'' from the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health sometime around September as long as there was no more outbreak. This status is a requirement for the country to resume its export of pork and other meat products. For now, it is a distant dream to restart the shipments in the foreseeable future.

The government is required to strengthen quarantines at major airports and seaports as the animal disease is suspected of spilling into the country from Southeast Asian states. It is necessary to trace the source of the virus so that Korea can effectively control its spread. Consumers are advised not to panic over the disease as it is not transmitted from animal to human. Policymakers also must take steps to minimize the fallout of the epidemic on farmers as well as on the economy. They should keep in mind that prevention is the best policy.