The British government appears to be moving closer to a limited foot-and-mouth vaccination programme as it struggles to meet its animal slaughter and disposal targets.
Ministers were yesterday battling predictions of an imminent and embarrassing U-turn over vaccination as the Conservatives intensified their criticism of the government's handling of the crisis, and as concerns built about the public safety implications of measures for the disposal of carcasses.
The Agriculture Minister, Mr Nick Brown, admitted ministers were considering a limited vaccination programme for cattle in disease "hotspots" such as Cumbria and Devon.
However, Mr Brown, who has consistently opposed the vaccination option, and once declared it would "do more harm than good", insisted no decision had yet been taken and ministers would consult fully with farmers affected before giving the green light for inoculation.
"Vaccination would only work as a strategy if everybody was committed to making it work. I don't think it's a strategy the government could force in," he told the BBC's Countryfile programme yesterday.
Stressing that any vaccination programme would be designed to save animals from culling and enable them to continue their working lives, Mr Brown said: "Nobody wants to make a mistake at this stage and do anything that would prolong the disease or compromise the local area.
"I need to explore all the objections very carefully indeed and then discuss it with people who would be affected before the government moves to such a strategy."
However, while Mr Brown appeared still unconvinced, Downing Street confirmed that vaccination was a "live issue" while dismissing as speculation reports of a decision to be announced tomorrow.
A No 10 spokesman stressed that vaccination, if it was introduced, would supplement the slaughter programme and rejected suggestions that it was now being considered because the government could not cope with the mounting backlog of animals awaiting disposal.
The Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, yesterday insisted the 24-hour target for slaughter on infected farms was still not being met in about 40 per cent of outbreaks.
Two newspaper investigations have raised questions about government assurances over the risks attached to disposal practices.
The Sunday Telegraph claimed scientists had admitted "little more than guesswork" underlying ministers' assurances that the epidemic was not being made worse by virus-laden smoke from pyres.
And the Observer claimed that emergency measures relaxing the rules governing disposal of carcasses, involving the use of landfill sites, could expose people to potential risk of infection by the human form of mad cow disease.