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Officials deny bird
flu cover-up
SMOKESCREEN? A lawmaker questioned the timing of
the announcement of the bird-flu outbreak, saying it could have been a tactic to
shift attention from US beef
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Uncaged hens roam on an organic
chicken farm in Chiayi County yesterday. Organic egg farmers in Chiayi have so
far not been affected by the discovery of H5N2 avian influenza among poultry in
Changhua County and Greater Tainan.
Photo: CNA
The Council of Agriculture yesterday
maintained it did not cover up and defer the notifications of several H5N2
bird-flu outbreaks in the past two years, despite heavy criticism from
lawmakers.
Challenged by a number of lawmakers in the legislature’s Economics Committee,
Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基) repeatedly sidestepped
questions on whether or not the council reported a highly pathogenic H5N2 avian
flu outbreak in 2010 to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as
low-risk outbreak.
Council officials were grilled by lawmakers across party lines yesterday over
the announcement on Saturday that 57,500 chickens had been culled in areas
around Greater Tainan and Changhua County because of an outbreak of the H5N2
avian influenza strain.
Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲)
and Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the council had notified the OIE of a low-risk avian
influenza in 2010, even though it had already received a Intravenous
Pathogenicity Index (IVPI) test’s results which showed readings above 1.2 — an
indicator that the strain was highly pathogenic.
Readings greater than 1.2 in an IVPI test on a six-week-old chicken indicate a
highly pathogenic strain.
Taiwan’s credibility would be in jeopardy if it had intentionally lied to the
OIE, Kuan said.
In response, Chen Bao-ji said the notification was a “mistake,” but he refused
to say whether it was a cover-up or comment on former Council of Agriculture
minister Chen Wu-hsiung’s (陳武雄) handling of the outbreak.
He also sidestepped a question posed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華), who asked if the council had covered up or
deferred reporting any avian flu outbreak, by promising to shorten the 28-day
evaluation period adopted by the OIE on avian flu assessments to better prepare
for future outbreaks.
Lawmakers and council officials spent a majority of the committee session
debating the standard operational procedures when assessing the pathogenicity of
bird-flu outbreaks, with Chen Bao-ji and Bureau of Animal and Plant Health
Inspection and Quarantine Deputy Director-General Huang Kwo-ching (黃國青) saying
that multiple factors, including the IVPI index, clinical observations,
pathological changes, as well as further laboratory tests, were considered when
the council makes an assessment.
Lawmakers said that an IVPI reading above 1.2 should be “the golden and only
rule,” according to council regulations established in 2003, adding that the
council’s “comprehensive assessment process” created a “grey area” in its
assessments.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) questioned the timing of
the announcement of the latest H5N2 outbreak, saying it could have been a tactic
to shift public attentions away from the government’s other hotly-debated policy
of allowing US beef imports that contain traces of the animal feed additive
ractopamine.
Kevin H. J. Lee (李惠仁), the freelance journalist who exposed the latest outbreaks
and who accused the council of covering them up and deferring its notifications
to the OIE, agreed, saying the council had placed “administrative concerns” over
its professionalism and obligations.
Lee, who was invited to testify before the committee, spent more than six years
investigating avian influenza outbreaks while shooting a documentary entitled A
Secret That Can’t Be Exposed (不能戳的秘密), and reported a possible lethal case of
H5N2 in Fangyuan Township (芳苑), Changhua County, to the council in December last
year.
Lee said the council concealed the truth about the Changhua outbreak for more
than 70 days, in much the same way as it had with the case in 2010.
The committee proposed establishing a panel to conduct a further investigation
into possible malfeasance and demanded that the council submit all avian
flu-related documents dated after December 2008 and that it review its standard
operating procedures on the identification and notification of bird-flu
outbreaks.
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