April 11, 2000	atimes.com

The Koreas Foot-and-mouth disease keeps Koreans off meat By Ahn Mi-Young SEOUL - South Koreans never had to be convinced to eat meat before, but now the government has had to launch a campaign aimed at getting locals to keep on buying domestic beef, pork and poultry. Ever since the country's first cases of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in nearly 70 years was reported last week, South Koreans - who count spicy beef in broth as one of their favorite foods - have begun keeping away from meat dishes for fear of falling ill. This is despite explanations from experts that FMD is a disease confined to animals with hooves and is not, they say, transferrable to human beings. Says Seoul National University professor Park Yong-Ho: ''The disease has never been found to be contagious to (humans). Even if a person eats infected meat, that would do no harm to the human's body.'' Animals that contract it, however, can be crippled. They are also liable to lose a lot of weight because FMD makes eating painful. For young animals, the airborne disease can be fatal, while expectant females could abort because of FMD. The last time South Korea had an outbreak of FMD was in 1934. Then last week, authorities confirmed that cattle at a Paju farm in northwest Kyonggi Province had been found to have the ailment. Some experts think the disease may have been transmitted by ''yellow dust'' blown in from China while others speculate that there must be some connection between the appearance of FMD in the Paju farm and the fact that 70 farmers there had travelled to China and Thailand in mid-January. Neither theory has been proven, although the head of the state veterinary quarantine institute, Kim Ok-Kyong, has commented, ''There is no chance of naturally producing the virus in a previously virus-free nation like Korea.'' On Wednesday, meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said that 25 suspected cases of FMD had been reported to authorities in two central provinces. All the cattle believed to be infected in these provinces have been killed and buried, said ministry spokesperson Choi Do-il. Livestock experts say the best way to contain the disease is to slaughter infected animals and to bury them as soon as possible. Market vendors here, though, say that even farmers who do not have animals with FMD are slaughtering twice the ''normal'' number of their livestock in an attempt to get rid of the meat before any consumer panic dampens their sales. To its credit, the government moved quickly to quell any consumer fears about local meats. President Kim Dae Jung's cook even announced recently that the Blue House has changed its menu to include more meat and poultry. Although chickens are not susceptible to FMD, people are also staying away from them for some reason, say observers. The good news is that at least people frequenting some restaurants are back to eating meat. Reports a restauranteur here in Seoul: ''Immediately after the news about the (FMD), our meat sales were cut in half. Now the initial impact seems to be moderated at least at our restaurant, as we are selling the same (amount) of meat as before the outbreak.'' Experts have warned that if South Koreans avoid eating poultry and meat because of what many of them describe as an ''unfounded health fear'', the nation's livestock industry would falter. Last year, 90 percent of the country's total pork production alone went to local consumers. Experts also note that if the FMD spreads, South Korea's meat exports could be suspended for the next six months, and may lead to a catastrophic downturn for livestock farmers who exported $347 million worth of pork in 1999. According to the experts, the ''suspended'' meat stocks would only add to a rising pile of unsold beef and pork, which in turn could cause a price fall that would force farmers to go bankrupt. The experts say South Korea should take care not to follow the steps taken by Taiwan after it was hit by an FMD epidemic three years ago. Taiwan has so drastically cut back its livestock industry, they say, thatit now depends on imported livestock for most of domestic pork and beef consumption. But indications so far are that Seoul is not about to react the same way as Taipei. Aside from its ''Eat Meat'' campaign, the South Korean government has promised to reduce the income tax of affected farmers by up to 50 percent. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry says that it has ordered costly vaccines from Britain for 2 million heads of livestock. It adds that it will begin providing shots to the 11 million cattle and pigs in the western part of South Korea. Still, this means nothing to the likes of Kim Sup-Soon, a farmer in Paju, which is just 30 kilometers northwest of Seoul. Her 21 milking cows were among the cattle killed last week, and until now, Kim remains in tears over the sudden loss of her animals. The 49-year-old farmer says ''visitors'' showed up on her property on the night of March 27 and took all her cows to the nearby hills. She says she screamed and tried to stop them but all the cattle were slaughtered anyway. ''I couldn't see the killing and I do not know where my cows are buried,'' she says between sobs. Her house has been placed under quarantine. Kim says she spends cold, sleepless nights in an unheated room as guards keep watch around her home. ''I just close my eyes when I see the empty cattle barn,'' she says. ''With all my cattle gone, my life is over.'' (Inter Press Service)

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