Bermuda is leading rather than following North America in terms of putting in place protective measures against foot and mouth disease, Environment Minister Terry Lister said yesterday.

While the US took protective action against the disease on Tuesday, Bermuda took action on February 21, he said.

Among the precautions being taken are a ban on affected UK imports -- including live animals -- and screening and disinfecting measures at the airport, the minister said. Canada and the US banned imports of livestock, fresh meat and dairy products from the European Union on Tuesday. But EU officials are calling the bans put in place in those countries "excessive'' because the disease has only been found in two of the 15 EU nations.

"The new outbreak is in an isolated area in France,'' said Mr. Lister."So the Bermuda ban has yet not been extended to cover all EU countries at this point.

"All dairy products are banned and various meats are on a stop list,'' Mr.

Lister said. "Fresh milk and milk byproducts out of the UK are also banned and should the ban be extended to the EU, these would be the products we would look at.'' Additional protective measures for the Island's livestock involve screening and disinfecting property of travellers coming into Bermuda. Signs are being erected at the airport to catch any potential threat from arriving travellers, Mr. Lister said.

He spoke to the Royal Gazette with the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries, John Barnes, who said people arriving in Bermuda who had been in a potentially infected area or were carrying food products, were asked to identify themselves to Customs.

Customs Officers had also been briefed on the situation and had specific directions on which questions to ask travellers and what actions to take.

Items thought to have been contaminated are then disinfected on the spot, Mr.

Barnes said. These may include shoes, clothing, golf bags or other items belonging to people that have been in or near contaminated areas.

The items are washed down with a disinfectant solution which kills the virus and then returned to their owners.

See OVERSEAS Page 9 Leading the US on disease safety And, as the danger of Foot and Mouth is greatest to cloven-footed animals such as cattle and sheep, Mr. Lister said that Agriculture and Fisheries officials had been in close contact with local farmers.

Farmers who have pigs, goats, cows and sheep have been told to limit people coming in contact with their livestock. Mr. Barnes said that the virus can live in the human respiratory system for up to two weeks and be transmitted on the wind.

"We're fortunate to have the benefit of being a small community. So, there is no March 13th panic station in Bermuda,'' Mr. Lister said.

"Today, we just want to inform the public that we're on top of this situation,'' he added.

Mr. Barnes said that he had spoken with USDA officials a couple of weeks ago who were shocked to hear that Bermuda had implemented safety precautions. A joint press release from the departments of Agriculture and Fisheries, Health, Immigration and Customs went out to all media. It said the departments would continue to monitor the situation and importers were being kept abreast of changes to restrictions.

Mr. Lister told the Royal Gazette that Consumer Affairs was coordinating with importers.

"One good thing that has come through from this situation has been the coordinated effort between so many different departments,'' he said. "We've had an excellent exchange of information locally and internationally, in relation to the UK and US. There's been a good flow of information so we feel very confident with where we are at this point.'' Asked to offer advice to travellers, Mr. Lister said, "stay off farms''. And Mr. Barnes urged travellers to obey the signs put up both in Bermuda and abroad. "They're there for a reason,'' he said. Both men repeated that the highly contagious disease is not a threat to humans. To date 215 separate outbreaks have been identified in the UK over the last month. The disease is fatal to affected animals. The only way to stop its spread is to destroy all potentially infected livestock.