Soil from government lab linked to disease

London -- Contaminated soil from a government lab likely caused a second outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease this year, a British official said.

An official heading an inquiry into the Surrey outbreak alleged that contractors at the government's Pirbright scientific research lab sold soil contaminated with live virus as top soil, The Times of London said Thursday.

The newspaper said a number of people, including veterinary surgeons, are convinced that is why the disease came back.

Contractors allegedly sold the soil rather than paying to have it disposed in a landfill site. It is alleged that some of the soil was spread on land that later reported sick animals.

The foot-and-mouth outbreak resurged in September, four days after Britain's Chief Veterinary Officer declared the country free of the disease.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.