ALMOST six months into the foot-and-mouth crisis - the first case emerged on February 21 - it has become necessary to re-state a couple of basic truths, and a vital principle.

The other day, an NFU spokesman on national TV vehemently described foot-and-mouth as "this horrendous disease". But it is usually non-fatal and poses no threat to human health. Sheep, which have borne the brunt of the slaughter, develop only the mildest symptoms and throw off the disease quite easily. Horrendous?

Thankfully, vaccination, off the agenda for months, is back in view. Prof Peter Midmore, an economist at the University of Wales, claims even widespread vaccination would have cost £3bn less than the mass slaughter. But the Government disputes his £5bn slaughter figure and says computer models show that "vaccination of buffer zones would allow the disease to spread out of control". Very different from the tight control at the moment.

What seems lost in the argument is the principle that farm animals - live-stock - should be treated as more than mere commodities. They deserve better than an instant bolt or bullet if a problem appears. Especially if that problem is a preventable, treatable sickness.

Driven home by the gruesome disposal, it is the denial of dignity to the animal victims that condemns Britain's mass cull. Here we are in the 21st Century, with medical science, including veterinary science, able to perform wonders, and our preferred response to an animal illness whose only threat is economic - and that to a relatively small number of farmers - is an orgy of killing. How ironic that Thirsk, now a foot-and-mouth hotspot, is home to the World Of James Herriot. A World of Witch Doctors might be more appropriate.

As Dr Michael Meredith, veterinary director of the Pig Disease Information Centre, pertinently asks: "Why do we maintain a stockpile of foot-and-mouth vaccine in the UK and other European countries if there is absolutely no circumstance under which we would ever use it?''

It's surprising that there has been no serious rebellion against the NFU by rank-and-file farmers. Thanks to their union, they now risk forfeiting public sympathy. The loss of goodwill through the slaughter-come-what-may policy will not be made good by president Ben Gill's dismissal of Government efforts to eradicate the disease as "pathetic", the rejection out-of-hand of insurance, and a breathtaking demand for extra payment for farmers compensated early in the crisis, at a lower level than later victims though still above market value. If Britain's miners, shipworkers, car workers, steelworkers and others crucified as Britain's "nanny state" turned nasty had had Ben Gill at their head, they would still be screwing the state for all she is worth.

Meanwhile, a partial parallel to foot-and-mouth has arisen in the human field. The General Medical Council is calling to account a doctor opposed to the triple vaccination for measles, mumps and rubella, because it fears his conduct "may pose an immediate risk to patient safety". Yet we have denied farm animals their protection and plunged the rural economy into chaos.

Yes, there must be a public inquiry into foot-and-mouth. But it is hard to see how the Government and the NFU, allies turned adversaries, can avoid ending up side-by-side in the dock.