News Brief: official resigns over H5N2 "cover-up"

Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine director Hsu Tien-lai (許天來) resigned yesterday amid allegations he covered up a bird flu outbreak, a day after authorities announced they had culled thousands of chickens, Taipei Times reports today (full article here).

The piece also carries some more details carried yesterday by the Chinese-language papers about a possible cover-up (see NOMM here).

"According to Kevin H. J. Lee (李惠仁), a freelance journalist who spent more than six years investigating avian influenza in Taiwan and directed a documentary entitled A Secret That Can’t Be Exposed (不能戳的秘密), the council concealed the truth about the virus."

“In the process of my investigation, I discovered the situation is very different to what the council tells us. I discovered that the council has lied about the whole thing since 2004,” Lee said.


Additional reporting by Shad for NOMM:

According to Lee's documentary (see here: youtube),  Hsu Tien-lai has a habit of resigning to "take blame" only to be reinstated and promoted. Fourteen years ago he stepped down from his position as section chief to take responsibility during the foot-and-mouth epidermic. Interestingly, his co-resignee on that occasion, Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄), had risen as high as COA minister until the recent cabinet reshuffle and was, therefore, in charge of the council when Lee sent in his three dead chickens.

Lee claims Hsu sent back his chicken without testing it. When Hsu was questioned about this by local media yesterday, he said that as a public servant he was forbidden from receiving gifts from members of the public.

Perhaps for his role in undermining world animal quarantine and health regulations, thereby extending Taiwan's exports by two months or more, and protecting the income of Taiwan's poultry farmers, Hsu will be rewarded himself by appointment to COA minister in the not too distant future.

News Brief: new bird flu cases discovered and covered up

Almost 60,000 poultry in Changhua and Tainan were slaughtered late last week following an outbreak of bird flu, the Taipei Times reports today (full article here).

According to the Council of Agriculture (農委會; COA), it first appeared at a farm in Changhua in late December and is Taiwan’s first outbreak of the H5N2 avian influenza strain. 

If it turns out that the virus is highly pathogenic, Taiwan could be listed as an infected region and its exports of poultry products banned.

Poultry meat is one of the country’s top poultry product exports, with a value of between NT$360 million and NT$370 million per year, said Hsu Kuei-sen (許桂森), director of the council’s husbandry division, the Times reports.


What the Times did not say, but was covered by many Chinese-language papers, including its sister paper the Liberty Times, was that there was evidence of high pathogenicity as early as December, and the COA not only covered it up but also failed to report this to the international agency responsible.

Documentary director Li Hui-ren (李惠仁) is said to be behind the discovery. Alerted by the rise in egg prices late last year he became suspicious, and tracked down large numbers of dead birds. Three he sent to the COA and the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (防檢局), and one he had tested. According to  Li, it was at this time in December that the COA should have alerted the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

News Brief: First H5N2 of 2012 reported

Taiwan has reported its first H5N2 bird flu case this year after test results confirmed that chickens at a poultry farm in Changhua County were infected with the virus, the China Post reports today (full article here).

Despite the infection, the farm has not logged unusual death rates, contrary to rumors that a large number of its chickens have died, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) said.
But the farm has already been put under quarantine, and banned from transporting its chickens outside. Its eggs, however, are still allowed to be sent to the market after pasteurization, the bureau said.
 
All quarantine measures will continue to be in place until the all safety concerns are cleared, the bureau said.
According to figures from the nation's chicken farm association, the supply of eggs has remained normal in the past three months, totaling 25 million.