VACCINATION should be a major tool in combating any future outbreak of foot-and-mouth.

The Royal Society inquiry's report this week said animals on an infected farm should still be culled, but it wants healthy livestock on neighbouring farms vaccinated to prevent the disease spreading. And, unlike in Holland where vaccinated animals were later slaughtered, it believes they should be returned to the food chain.

The Royal Society is the country's leading scientific establishment.

Sir Brian Follett, who chaired the inquiry into foot-and-mouth, said the Food Standards Agency had confirmed there would be no risk to human health if vaccinated animals were eaten.

Products are already consumed from animals vaccinated against 33 other diseases, but a major public reassurance campaign was required.

The Society said mass culling had been ineffective in combating the disease when it had been used on five occasions in the last 80 years - hence the need for vaccination.

It said contingency plans for future disease outbreaks must be debated and drawn up, with annual practice exercises.

Ben Gill, NFU president, welcomed the Society's calls for contingency plans and greater investment and resources into fighting diseases.

The NFU supported the recommendation for emergency vaccination alongside the slaughter of infected animals and dangerous contacts.

It also backed a series of recommendations by the Society including:

* action to remedy "inadequate" UK controls on illegal imports;

* reinforcement of the State Veterinary Service;

* strengthening EU disease surveillance and early warning systems;

* greater use of IT and modelling for scenario planning and disease control;

* the development of EU risk-based post-outbreak protocols for the resumption of normal trade, whether or not vaccination has been used;

* research into any link between livestock management practices and stress and the spread of disease.

Margaret Beckett, Defra Secretary of State, welcomed the report and said the Government had never rejected vaccination as an option against foot-and-mouth.

The report recognised there were aspects of vaccination, particularly trade and technical issues, which were not resolved, but which could and should be.

"Even then vaccination will not necessarily be a panacea and will not necessarily be right in all circumstances," Mrs Beckett said. "The report notes that, even with emergency vaccination in place, culling would still be necessary."

She will give a fuller response when the Lessons Learned inquiry reports on Monday