Voice of Real Australia: Foot and mouth disease would be a big problem for everyone

Voice of Real Australia is a regular newsletter from ACM, which has journalists in every state and territory. Sign up here to get it by email, or here to forward it to a friend. Today's is written by The Maitland Mercury journalist Belinda-Jane Davis.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) - words that may not mean much to you right now, but they will if this viral disease starts spreading here.

Why? Well, if you eat meat, drink milk, enjoy cheese or any other kind of dairy snack your world will change.

This viral disease affects cattle - and it doesn't discriminate between beef and dairy so the steak on your plate and the milk you pour on your cereal is at risk.

It actually doesn't just affect cattle; any cloven-hoofed animal is susceptible so that means sheep, goats and pigs, buffalo, camels and deer are also at risk.

This disease would have wide implications if it began to spread.

The farmers' livelihood, the hit to the economy and to jobs - those employed on farms and in the wider agricultural services.

The export market would likely shut down and it would take a long time to regain trust with overseas buyers.

Then there's the businesses that process meat and the services that support them, and those who take these kind of ingredients and turn them into another product.

Then there's the flow-on effects to the hospitality industry ...

You get the picture.

The best way to stop this disease becoming a disaster here is to make sure it does not penetrate our borders.

Australia is known for having strict border security, but questions are now being raised about whether current measures are enough to keep this out.

Recently fragments of FMD were found in pork products in Melbourne that had been imported from China and were being sold in a retail setting.

And a traveller returning from Indonesia was caught with pork - that hadn't been declared - and testing revealed it also had fragments of FMD.

It only takes a careless decision like this traveller made to cause a whole lot of devastation.

Infected animals have to be euthanised and either buried or burned. It is so infectious the whole herd is expected to contract it once an initial case is detected.

Not long ago farmers endured the worst drought in living memory and now they are battling a prolonged wet period. It would be horrific to see farmers have to euthanise their herds after already surviving so many challenges.

It would also be diabolical for those who keep these kind of animals as pets and see them as part of their family. They wouldn't be immune from forced euthanasia if they were infected.

The mental health implications from being forced to do such a thing would be fierce. Imagine it. To lose the whole herd, just like that, would take a huge toll - especially when it could have been prevented. Some may never recover from it.

The disease can spread through close contact between animals. It can be carried on animal products, by the wind, or on clothing and footwear.

Airports were only fitted with foot baths for travellers in July, yet the outbreak in Indonesia was initially detected in May.

Since then the outbreak has spread to Bali, and there is a real chance someone on holiday could return here and bring it with them.

Once it transfers into the animal kingdom we would have a real problem on our hands.

The authorities must do whatever is humanely possible, and then some, to keep this disease out of the country.

The 'it'll be right' attitude just won't work. We need to be vigilant and we need to stop this.

We need to do whatever can be done to safeguard our country.

Australia has always been known for its strict border control - so lets ramp it up even more.

We've recently see the NSW Hunter region's honey bee industry decimated thanks to the varroa mite. We don't want another disaster on our hands.

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