Today marks the second anniversary of the foot and mouth epidemic.

Forum Response: Countryside Alliance

A spokesman for the Countryside Alliance told ePolitix.com: "Two years after the outbreak of foot and mouth many key questions remain unanswered and the government's refusal to hold a full public inquiry means that most will remain so.

"How did the FMD crisis start, as MAFF saw cases earlier than February 23 2001? Why didn't the government follow the Northumberland report 1968 or recommendations on carcass disposal?

"Why hasn't the contingency plan for FMD submitted to EU in 1993 never been made public or indeed acknowledged? As the emergency epidemic criteria fulfilled EC 90/423 why didn't the government start vaccinating? Why did the government allow biosecurity and welfare guidelines to be lax on some sites?

"What is of even more concern is that Britain seems little better prepared to tackle foot and mouth now than it was in 2001. The source of the original infection has never been conclusively proved but there is little more restriction on the import of potentially infected materials now than there was in 2001.

"Britain is still vulnerable to FMD infection and DEFRA seems little better positioned to learn from previous outbreaks and counter the spread of the disease than MAFF was two years ago."

Forum Response: Royal Agricultural Society of England

A spokeswoman for RASE told ePolitix.com: "The 2001 foot and mouth disease epidemic was an awful experience for everyone who lived through it.

"We must remain vigilant as FMD or any one of a number of diseases could be brought to the UK at any time. It is therefore vital that our border restrictions are tightened, sadly they are really no tighter today than two years ago."