Britain said on Thursday the foot and mouth virus may have leaked at the same laboratory at the centre of an outbreak earlier this year, although scientists believed it had not escaped into the wider environment. Environment Minister Hilary Benn said officials at the Merial facility at Pirbright in Surrey, south-east England, believed there had been a probable unintended release of live foot and mouth (FMD) virus into a contained drainage system. It was first discovered on Nov. 19 and operations at Merial stopped immediately, he added. Government inspectors visited the site on Wednesday. "The inspection team judge that while it is possible that live FMD virus had entered the contained drainage system, from their discussions and the evidence gathered they are assured that live virus has not been released to the environment," Benn said. Benn said Merial had initially discovered a shortfall in the quantity of foot and mouth (FMD) virus recovered from production batches from the previous week and then identified technical problems with a valve.