Lab says "no evidence" it behind UK cattle disease

LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) A research laboratory at the centre of an investigation into an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in southern Britain said today it had complete confidence in its biosecurity measures.

Government inspectors say there is a ''strong probability'' the disease, which has prompted a cull of cattle and an international ban on British meat, milk and livestock, came from labs in Surrey close to farms where cattle were infected.

A preliminary report into the outbreak, first confirmed five days ago, said there was a real possibility it involved ''human movement'' from the labs. The government Institute for Animal Health (IAH) and another lab, Merial Animal Health, owned by US firm Merck and French firm Sanofi-Aventis SA, occupy the same site in Pirbright, about 5 miles (8 km) from the affected farms.

Merial rejected the report's suggestions, saying that despite days of intensive internal investigations it had ''not been able to establish any evidence that the virus may have been transported out of our centre by humans''.

Both laboratories, which conduct research and develop vaccines against foot and mouth, handle the exact, rare strain of the virus -- isolated by British scientists 40 years ago --that struck the herd.

Lead investigator Paul Logan said his team was carrying out further tests on the drainage system at the Merial lab to see if the virus could have been spread in that way. Results are expected today, he said.

''Everyone involved in this investigation understands that this report is part of an ongoing process, and that the outbreak is causing farmers hardship,'' Merial said. It stressed its commitment to helping find the source of the outbreak.

THREAT TO INDUSTRY Britain's livestock industry, whose meat exports are worth more than 1 billion dollars a year, is under threat from the outbreak, which has stirred memories of a foot and mouth crisis in 2001 that devastated farming and cost Britain around 8.5 billion pounds (17 billion dollars).

The European Union moved quickly to ban all British exports of fresh meat, live animals and milk after the outbreak was confirmed last Friday. EU vets are scheduled to meet in Brussels today to discuss the bloc's response.

Two outbreaks of the disease have so far been confirmed, both in herds in southeast England near the town of Guildford.

Animals from both sites have been culled and 3 km exclusion zones and 10 km protection zones set up around the farms and the two Pirbright research laboratories.

The investigators' report drew no definitive conclusions, pointing the finger neither laboratory and not identifying how the virus was spread, but said there was a limited possibility it was borne on the air, its most common form of dispersion.

''Release by human movement must ... be considered a real possibility,'' the report said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, speaking on television after the report was released, pointed to the possibility that a drainage system at one of the labs may have played a part.

But Merial denied its waste water may have been a cause.

''We wish to clarify that Merial does not release water from the shared Pirbright site. We ensure that the water we use in our virus production is treated, we then transfer it to the IAH who treat it further and release it,'' its statement said.

Reuters GT GC1505