STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Britain has made it through the worst of its foot and mouth disease crisis now, but the contagion is still costing English farmers. CNN's Sheila MacVicar now with their concerns.</s>SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After months of closure, the British government has declared most of the English countryside open for business. Thousands of miles of footpaths that had been closed to try to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease have now been reopened. That is in spite of fears the disease is spreading in Wales and that there continues to be a few cases confirmed in parts of England nearly everyday. Farmers say this decision is premature and union representatives say their members feel abandoned.</s>ANDREW CLARK, NATIONAL FARMERS UNION: Many people are waiting for compensation checks to help them through the crisis following the killing of their stock and opening up footpaths and ignoring their legitimate concerns about and by security is obviously a concern to many farmers.</s>MACVICAR: In the countryside, there is a strong feeling that the government has mishandled the crisis. Many people in farming communities like these protesters want an end to the killing.</s>CAROL MITCHELL, FARM OWNER: We lost pet lambs. And the</s>MACVICAR: Deep scars in farming families and big debts for those in the tourist trade who have seen their businesses collapse. The aim now is to bring people back to the countryside. Thousands of rural businesses are depending on that. And the government is betting that it will not again face increases in foot and mouth. Sheila MacVicar, CNN, London.
Foot and Mouth Continues to Cost English Farmers