The computer model that was really driving this government campaign was fundamentally flawed

Caroline Lucas Green MEP

She said the UK campaign to rid the country of foot-and-mouth had been "fundamentally flawed".

Mr Brown was quizzed about why ministers had carried out "carnage by computer", by putting a computer team in charge of the epidemic, and placing it under the control of a scientist who had "no expertise at all in the management and control" of the disease, she said.

Rough ride

Dr Lucas also argued that fewer animals needed to have been slaughtered during the widespread cull, that led to "such devastation to so many people".

Mr Brown's evidence came as UK Prime Minister Tony Blair met farmers leaders, consumer groups and food industry representatives in Downing Street on Tuesday to discuss major reforms.

Tory MEPs on the committee are widely expected to the give the former agriculture minister a rough ride which has been given 12 months to study the outbreak, its causes and to come up with recommendations on the way forward.

Brown: Set for rough ride from Tory MEPs

Dr Lucas said: "One of the key questions to ask him is why the government handed over control of the epidemic to a computer team led by Professor Roy Anderson of Imperial College, who was an epidemiologist who had no expertise at all in the management and control of foot-and-mouth.

"Frankly, there have been some devastating figures that have come out over the last month which show that the computer model that was really driving this government campaign was fundamentally flawed.

"For example, the computer model took no account of the fact that sheep are 15 times less susceptible than cattle when it comes to passing on infection.

'Devastating figure'

"That means that the airborne transmission of the virus was likely to cover much shorter distances than the 3km that was being used for these vast contiguous culls."

This is not an exercise in government bashing

Gordon Adams Labour's agriculture spokesman in the European Parliament

She said the government had to explain why the system "was essentially allowed to commit carnage by computer, causing such devastation to so many people."

Labour MEPs fear the inquiry will be used by Conservatives to put Mr Blair on the rack for as long as possible.

Gordon Adams, Labour's agriculture spokesman in the European Parliament and a committee member, said: "We have established quite clearly that this is not an exercise in government bashing."

Vaccination

But Tory committee member Robert Sturdy said: "There is no doubt that Nick Brown's actions in handling the foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK will be a central issue we will have to consider."

The MEPs will consider why foot and mouth spread to a number of new countries.

They will also focus on whether vaccination, a policy ruled out in the EU because it means closing all markets to export, should be used to replace the kind of mass slaughter ordered by the UK government.

Lucas: Fewer animals needed to have been slaughtered.

David Byrne, the EU health and consumer commissioner, told the committee in Brussels on Monday that there was no evidence that it was wrong for new governments to reject vaccination as a weapon in fighting the disease.

Rural affairs secretary of state Margaret Beckett, the government's chief vet Jim Scudamore and Rural Affairs Minister Lord Whitty are also due to appear before the committee.