Here are some things you should know about foot and mouth disease:

1. A long established, effective (and probably safe) vaccine is available but the government won't let farmers use it.

2. Human beings can catch foot and mouth disease. You may be able to get it from eating infected meat. You may be able to get it from dairy products. (The French believe it's carried in cheese. French border police are confiscating cheese sandwiches from Britons.)

3. Foot and mouth disease can be transmitted through the air. Like GM pollen it can travel over 100 miles. Dipping Wellington boots into bowls of disinfectant won't stop it.

4. The disease doesn't usually kill health adult animals. It stops the animal getting fatter and it stops dairy cattle producing milk. Animals are killed because farmers can't be bothered to nurse them when they're sick - anyway the government pays them for the dead animals.

5. I believe this epidemic is a result of cruelty on the farm - such as overcrowding and transporting animals long distances. Farmers will, as usual, get bailed out by the government - with our money. (Do hoteliers get bailed out with taxpayers' money when bad weather ruins their season?)

6. One theory is that pigs may have contracted the disease after eating leftovers from school dinners which contained contaminated foreign meat. Why are farmers still feeding meat to herbivores.

This problem isn't going to go away. And there are more problems on the way for meat eaters. I was right about AIDS, mad cow disease, power lines, mobile phones, doctors causing illness, the overprescribing of antibiotics, genetic engineering and scores of other health hazards. The government and the medical establishment disagreed with me on all these.

I think I'm right about this one too.

You probably won't die of foot and mouth disease (it doesn't usually kill animals either). But this fiasco provides more proof that when it comes to health care you can't trust the government. meat may or may not give you foot and mouth but it certainly can give you cancer. Now is the time to turn vegetarian. For advice on what to eat visit vegetariandiet.co.uk.