A LARGE scale blood-testing programme is under way in parts of North Yorkshire as the battle against foot and mouth disease continues.

But persistent rumours of a planned mass cull of animals after the general election have again been strongly denied by ministry officials.

Also denied is a claim by a North Yorkshire farmer that ministry staff knew that foot and mouth was on the way in early January - several weeks before the first case was announced and restrictions imposed on animal movements.

John Bywater, of Helperby, near Boroughbridge, alleged that a ministry vet told him at Otley market that "something big was happening" and that he should not buy and take any animals home. He believed in retrospect that the vet must have been referring to foot and mouth. He claimed valuable time may have been lost in tackling the disease, allowing it to spread across the country.

But a ministry spokeswoman bluntly dismissed the claims that staff knew about the outbreak in January, saying: "It's nonsense. I would take what he says with a pinch of salt.

"The ministry had no idea there was foot and mouth until February 19, when it was detected at an Essex abattoir."

Commenting on the rumours of a mass cull in North Yorkshire, Graham Woods, a spokesman for the now replaced MAFF, said there are "no plans, strategic or practical, for the widespread culling of animals."

He described the blood-testing programme as a way of "keeping ahead of the game."

The testing is currently under way in the Wensleydale and Swaledale areas of North Yorkshire, where MAFF teams are well along in their task of testing a sample of 55,000 sheep.

Areas can be declared foot and mouth free 21 days after the testing is complete, providing the results are negative.

Updated: 10:41 Thursday, June 14, 2001