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Recording proves bird
flu cover-up: legislators
HUSH: Two lawmakers played a recording to a
legislative committee of what they said proved an animal quarantine bureau
official sought to conceal the outbreak of avian flu
By Shelley Shan / Staff Reporter
The legislature’s Health, Environment and Social Committee passed a resolution
yesterday to submit to the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office a recording that appears
to show that Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine
Director-General Hsu Tien-lai (許天來) intended to cover up an outbreak of avian
flu in a meeting last month.
The recorded conversation was obtained by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
legislators Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) and Liu Chien-kuo (劉建國), who played it at the
committee meeting yesterday.
In the conversation, a person said to be a representative of the Animal Health
Research Institute requested at a meeting on Feb. 1 that the bureau report the
avian flu outbreak as a case of “highly pathogenic avian influenza” to the World
Organisation for Animal Health.
“OK, let me make this clear, the instruction I received was that there was no
rush to reach a conclusion today,” a voice attributed to Hsu says. “Why? Because
the situation was not urgent at the site [chicken farm].”
The legislators then played another conversation in which Hsu apparently said
the meeting should not reach any conclusions yet.
“The boss said that everyone should take a break and think about it,” the voice
says. “We can exchange opinions today and reschedule another day for a meeting,
preferably after the boss has stepped down.”
When the person transcribing the conclusions of the meeting asked if he should
write “the conclusions should be reached after the boss has stepped down,” the
voice attributed to Hsu told the person to just write that the experts had
engaged in fervent discussions.
Chao and Liu said the recordings proved Hsu was trying to conceal the outbreak
of avian flu and that the “boss” he was referring to was then-Council of
Agriculture minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄).
Hsu said in response he did not think there was a need to rush to a conclusion,
as the lab results and those from clinical observations did not match.
Since the contaminated farm was being monitored closely, Hsu said, experts
should review the literature and conduct more tests on animals before drawing a
conclusion, adding that this was contained in a resolution passed at an Avian
Flu Prevention and Supervisory Committee meeting.
Hsu said “the boss” was a reference to the committee, not Chen.
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