The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently eased trade restrictions on the Netherlands, Northern Ireland and Japan, after the three nations were certified to be free of foot and mouth disease.

The highly contagious livestock disease decimated Britain's cattle industry last year, before spreading to several other European and Asian countries. The United States has gone to great lengths including bans on trade in live cattle or animal products - to prevent the disease from infecting U.S. cattle. The United States has been free of foot and mouth since 1929.

Jim Rogers, spokesman for the USDA office that monitors animal health, says unfortunately, the list of countries that are free of FMD is not very long:

"FMD is so prevalent that we don't maintain a list of countries that are infected with FMD, we maintain a list of countries that are not infected with FMD, such as Canada, Bermuda, Iceland, New Zealand, and Nicaragua," he said. "These countries are considered free Of FMD, although there may still be some restrictions. Currently the number of countries considered free of FMD is less than 50."

Mr. Rogers notes that the Netherlands and Northern Ireland still face some curbs on their exports to the United States because of their proximity to Britain. There are still reported cases of FMD in Britain, and some British livestock are also still infected BSE, or Mad Cow Disease another livestock malady the United States is determined to keep at bay.

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