Moves to tighten biosecurity and to eradicate the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in South-East Asia are the goals of a new project set to strengthen links between national laboratories, a new regional reference laboratory in Thailand and the World Reference Laboratory in the UK.

Delegates from 15 participating countries are meeting at CSIRO Livestock Industries' Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL), in Australia this week to kick off the project.

Dr John Crowther of the Joint Food and Agricultural Organisation/International Atomic Energy Agency - the body funding the project - said this week that the components of diagnostic tests for FMD are too expensive to be extensively used by many countries in the region.

"The project aims to set up systems for the new regional reference laboratory for FMD in Thailand to manufacture and distribute cheaper diagnostic reagents to other countries in the region.

"This will help build greater levels of knowledge on the location and spread of all strains of the disease," he added.

FMD, that afflicted the UK in recent years and from which farmers are still bearing the scars, is a highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals like pigs, cattle, sheep, goats and deer.

The disease spreads rapidly via contact between animals and is carried by people, transport vehicles, or on the wind.

Countries participating in the project include India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand and Thailand.