Brasília, 1/16/2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Today minister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, is expected to formally announce that more areas of Brazil are free of foot and mouth disease. The new disease-free areas are in parts of the states of Pará and Amazonas, and all of the state of Acre.

With the announcement, Brazil will have 165 million head of cattle free of foot and mouth disease (up from 152 million), and the area in the country that is disease-free will rise from 4.25 million square kilometers to 5.08 million square kilometers, or approximately 61% of the country. (AB)