A Christian churchman in Wirral has claimed that lowering the homosexual age of consent brought on the recent foot and mouth crisis in the UK.

The newsletter distributed by the Moreton Christian Assembly has said that God's disapproval of gays and the outbreak of the virus are too much of a coincidence, reports UK news site Ananova.

Pastor Ray Borlase said in the newsletter: "The last major outbreak of foot and mouth was in 1967. A Christian leader at that time linked that outbreak with two acts of Parliament. The first was the Abortion Act and the second was the legalising of homosexuality. Those acts permitted behaviour, which would have brought the disapproval of God upon our nation. Soon afterwards the foot and mouth disease began to affect our country. In recent weeks, just prior to this outbreak, Parliament lowered the age of consent for homosexual acts to 16 - mere minors! We have failed to protect our children from perversion".

Julie Dean, a local resident who received the leaflet, told the Wirral Globe: "It is publications like this that drive up the suicide rate for young gay people. Now every homophobic idiot thinks they have an excuse to terrorize lesbians and gays after a rowdy night at the pub, and I can guarantee that it will happen".

British gay Rainbow Network has also branded the claims as "outlandish" and irresponsible and the comments are "not helpful at a time when gay people still face the threat of violence".

About Foot-and-mouth disease

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly infectious viral disease that can spread by direct or indirect contact with infected animals, in which fever is followed by the development of vesicles or blisters - chiefly in the mouth or on the feet.

"FMD is predominantly a disease of animals, which, on very rare occasions is transmitted to humans", Professor Tony Hart, an expert in infectious diseases at the University of Liverpool, told the BBC.

He said he was not aware of any other case in which a human, having picked up the infection, passed it onto another human. However, he said that it was possible that an infected human could pass the virus onto animals - which are far more susceptible to infection.

While the disease is rarely fatal, except in the case of very young animals, which may die without showing any symptoms, infected animals lose condition and secondary bacterial infections may prolong convalescence. The most serious effects of the disease however are seen in dairy cattle. Loss of milk yield, abortion, sterility, chronic mastitis, and chronic lameness are commonplace.