BBC NEWS | UK | Foot-and-mouth ‘traced to pipe’
2007/09/05/1500RTFA: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6979891.stm
Investigators say the virus that led to the foot-and-mouth outbreak in Surrey had probably been present in a pipe on the Pirbright laboratory site.
Health and Safety Executive findings, given to the BBC, identified biosecurity lapses at the nearby site.
It said the pipe, which runs from pharmaceutical firm Merial to a plant operated by a government-run lab, may have been damaged by tree roots.
Merial said it could not comment until the report was officially published.
It said it “cannot speculate on pipes or anything else”.
It is believed the pipe may have been damaged by tree roots before flooding pushed virus traces to the surface.
It is not known how the virus found its way on to farmland a few miles way following the flooding on 20 July.
Damn! These are sensitive systems, people.