CROTONE – The Agriculture decree approved by the Council of Ministers on 6 May includes the establishment of an extraordinary commissioner for brucellosis and tuberculosis. The president of Fratelli d’Italia for the province of Crotone, Michele De Simone, expresses appreciation for the Government’s choice and thanks, in addition to the undersecretary Marcello Gemmato, also the honorable Giandonato Lasalandra, member of the Agriculture commission which in recent weeks has had a direct dialogue with the farmers of the Crotone area, who are dealing, recalls De Simone, with this “emergency situation which concerns the entire livestock sector of our province”.
“An important step for animal health and agriculture”, comments De Simone. The commissioner has been assigned tasks of coordinating and monitoring the actions adopted in the territories affected by the disease, with the power to adopt contingent and urgent measures to protect human, animal and ecosystem health. With a two-year mandate, extendable only once, it is up to him to complete the process of eradication on the national territory of bovine, buffalo, sheep and goat brucellosis, and of bovine and buffalo tuberculosis, also in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures of prophylaxis adopted by local authorities.
“The establishment of a commissioner was deemed necessary after an in-depth technical-scientific evaluation conducted within the Ministry of Health, with the support of the Reference Centers and in agreement with Masaf, at the same time as promptly listening to the requests represented, not only by breeders and trade associations, but also by local parliamentarians” reads a note from the Undersecretary of Health Gemmato reported by De Simone. “Such a high number of animals affected by bovine tuberculosis puts transhumance at risk for all farms in the province, aware that immediate and further interventions are needed to avoid economic damage to our farmers”.
