Farmers Wont Cull Their Chickens

[eric1000]

Jan. 24, 2004. 01:00 AM

MARTIN REGG COHN

ASIA BUREAU

HONG KONG—Asia's outbreak of bird flu appears to be spiralling out of control as the potentially deadly virus spread to at least six countries, prompting pleas from the World Health Organization for more drastic measures.

The European Union banned poultry imports from Thailand yesterday after it belatedly admitted what it had denied for weeks—that avian flu had spread across its chicken farms, and had infected and killed humans. Already, it has spread across poultry farms in Vietnam, infecting 17 people and killing five.

Millions of infected birds have been slaughtered in Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Cambodia.

Canada had not reopened its borders to poultry imports from the affected countries since an earlier outbreak of Newcastle disease, but doctors across the country have been put on the lookout for avian flu, particularly in patients recently returned from Vietnam, the Star's Karen Palmer reports.

WHO yesterday urged quarantine of bird flu patients from regular influenza patients to minimize chances for the viruses to combine. But senior staff in Geneva saw no need for SARS-style travel warnings, issued last year when severe acute respiratory syndrome infected 8,000 people, killing more than 770, including 44 in Canada.

Now Thailand's chicken industry — Asia's biggest and the world's fourth largest — is in the spotlight with confirmation that a butcher died of bird flu and two boys are infected. The government also admitted yesterday many farmers are resisting calls to slaughter infected birds to avoid heavy losses, letting the virus spread.

Government reluctance to publicize the problem is being blamed for the severity of bird flu in Thailand, and seems reminiscent of initial denials from China last year about the spread of SARS.

"Please trust the government. It did not make an announcement in the very beginning because it did not want the public to panic," Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday. "I know what I'm doing."

Yesterday, Thaksin acknowledged his officials have fought the problem since mid-December, while claiming the only threat was from chicken cholera and bronchitis.

[mrentoul]

"Please trust the government. It did not make an announcement in the very beginning because it did not want the public to panic," Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday. "I know what I'm doing."

Yesterday, Thaksin acknowledged his officials have fought the problem since mid-December, while claiming the only threat was from chicken cholera and bronchitis.

There's only one way to look at this (in my view) - lies.

The guy's a liar. Why does he lie? He believes he knows best. His arrogance knows no bounds.

Well, I'm sure thousands of farmers have a pithy response to that - <deleted> you, mate!

[Guest IT Manager]

So long as you make your views clear M.

Don't leave the views to chance misinterpretation.

[mrentoul]

Thank-you, IT, for keeping my feet on the ground.

These decisions are just not his to make. It makes me furious - all the more so because I have no way to make my grievance heard.

Still, we can rest easy. Thaksin knows what he is doing, and all decisions he takes - even to withhold information - are made in our best interests.

As I say, tell that to the farmers who lost their livelihoods (I am reading about a few tonight), not to mention the families of the children who have picked up the disease.

[davidm]

A couple of articles from today's Telegraph give a pretty lucid overview of the situation, especially the EU's views regarding the Thai Government and their attempts to conceal the truth.

1. "Ban on Thai chicken imports as boys catch avian flu

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels and Alex Spillius in Bangkok

(Filed: 24/01/2004)

The European Commission banned imports of Thai poultry yesterday to halt the spread of deadly bird flu after two boys came down with the virus outside Bangkok.

Following moves by Japan and Hong Kong, Brussels announced it was blocking the sale of all Thai chicken slaughtered after Jan 1, in addition to eggs and poultry products for pet food.

(picture)

Thai officials collect dead chickens to be destroyed

David Byrne, the food safety commissioner, dismissed criticism that the EU was over-reacting to the health scare sweeping Asia. "We cannot take any risks with public health or animal health," he said.

Thailand's health minister, Sudarat Keyuraphan, said the infected boys, aged six and seven, from different provinces west of Bangkok, were "critical but stable".

The seven-year-old had symptoms akin to severe pneumonia and was on a respirator at a hospital in the capital, a health ministry statement said. Three further people are being tested.

The first possible Thai death from the virus was also reported when a farmer suspected of having bird flu died of pneumonia-like symptoms.

Millions of chickens have been slaughtered across east Asia after the disease was found in Japan, South Korea, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, where five people have died and at least 17 others are infected.

Experts say transmission is chiefly caused by direct contact with the birds, which Thailand does not export alive to Europe.

The commission said the risk of contagion from eating poultry was "very low" but gave a warning that meat could be unsafe without prolonged heat-treatment at over 70C.

There is no evidence so far that the virus can be transmitted between humans, but health experts are constantly on alert for mutations that could ultimately trigger a deadly pandemic.

The World Health Organisation, calling the near simultaneous bird flu outbreaks across much of Asia "unprecedented", said it was concerned that a new, virulent strain of influenza could sweep around the world.

It said eliminating the H5N1 bird flu virus "should be given high priority as a matter of international public health importance".

EU officials said the main purpose of the ban was to prevent commercial damage to European poultry farmers and producers. Brussels is concerned that the virus could infect EU chicken farms if left-overs from Thai imports are fed - illegally - to EU birds.

The emergency measures are so far confined to Thailand, which is the EU's second biggest supplier of chicken, exporting 160,000 tons each year. The ban is a devastating blow to the Thai poultry industry, one of the five biggest in the world.

In Suphanburi province, home to one of the two farm boys confirmed to have contracted the disease from playing with dead birds, every chicken is being culled.

The agriculture ministry has ordered the slaughter of all chickens in Suphanburi, the worst-affected province, while about six million birds have been slaughtered throughout the country so far.

Workers in protective clothing descended on farms to spray birds with disinfectant and toss them into bags before dumping them alive in 15ft deep pits holding up to 30,000 birds. They were then covered with powdered lime.

Thailand is a leading exporter of chicken products to British supermarkets, particularly Tesco, which has a considerable presence there. Last year Britain imported more than 12,000 tons of frozen birds, and more than 35,000 tons of nuggets and other processed goods, but no live chickens or eggs.

Until yesterday the Thai authorities insisted that sick birds were afflicted with cholera, not flu.

Mrs Sudarat denied there had been a cover-up, though farmers and government experts too afraid to speak out by name have for days blamed the epidemic on bird flu, accusing the leadership of trying to protect exports at grave risks to public health.

Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea are on a watch list but were exempted from yesterday's ban since they do not export poultry directly to Europe."

2. "Bangkok 'hushed up' reports of birds dying

(Filed: 24/01/2004)

Authorities have been covering up the outbreak since at least November, writes Robert Uhlig

It is "almost impossible" for shoppers and restaurant customers to avoid eating Thai chicken because most supermarkets, food processors and importers do not label it as coming from Thailand.

Thai authorities have been covering up the avian flu outbreak since at least November, according to the British Poultry Council, so many of us may have been eating chicken from infected birds for months.

Although eating or handling infected chicken poses no risk to human health, Peter Bradnock, chief executive of the British Poultry Council, said he understood that many consumers would wish to avoid Thai chicken, but it would be difficult.

"You will not be able to identify it as Thai chicken - that's why we need country of origin labelling," he said.

The Thai chicken industry is largely unregulated and uncontrolled, with checks applied only to exported chicken, he said. "The Thai authorities have been deceiving their government and people for months.

"We have reports of birds dying since November, but it was hushed up because of fears that it would damage their exports."

Last year, we ate about 1.3 million tons of chicken. More than a ninth of the 450,000 tons of chicken imports came from Thailand - the second largest supplier to Europe after Brazil - of which 12,288 tons were frozen birds and 35,044 tons were nuggets and other processed foods.

We also imported 150,000 tons last year from Holland, which had a serious avian flu outbreak suspected of causing the death of a Dutch vet.

Thai chicken is considerably cheaper than British because of lower labour costs, less regulation and "total utilisation of the bird".

Grampian Country Foods has a large chicken plant employing 4,500 near Bangkok to process 120,000 birds a day into nuggets and other chicken products for £2.50 a day, six days a week. A spokesman said: "In Thailand, we can use all the innards, the feet and other parts which we would have to get rid of over here."

Most of the chicken imported from Thailand is breast meat, which is less popular in the Far East than dark meat, innards and other parts.

Tesco sources a large amount of chicken breast for its ready meals and convenience foods from Thailand, insisting that its suppliers use CP Foods, Thailand's largest chicken exporter, with which it is in partnership. CP Foods owns large farms with up to 30,000 birds per shed, reared and killed on a 42-day cycle.

Tesco said Thai chicken was used in a "significant" proportion of its convenience products, but it was "processed and cooked and therefore not a risk" to humans.

Kentucky Fried Chicken said it used a "tiny percentage" of Thai chicken. Marks and Spencer sold only British or European-reared chicken, either fresh or in its manufactured products. Waitrose did not source any chicken from the Far East for any of its own label products.

The Food Standards Agency said that on the basis of advice from its scientific experts, the avian flu in the Far East did not pose a safety risk for British consumers."

[mrentoul]

"The Thai authorities have been deceiving their government and people for months.

"We have reports of birds dying since November, but it was hushed up because of fears that it would damage their exports."

Great posts, thank you. I hope Thaksin reads them and squirms.

He has taken issue with an item in the International Herald Tribune which said his government knew weeks ago but covered it up. But most media are now saying he knew months ago!

I hope he gets his butt whipped.

[Sing_Sling]

This is reminiscent of the PRC cover-up of the SARS outbreak in Guangdong privince, and we all suffered because of that in one way or another.

What, in God's name, compels Heads of State to make imbecilic and selfish decisions like this is beyond any reasoning. Do they not understand that issues like this affect not only them an dtheir populace, but everyone, due to the global market.

The pox on anyone who acts this selfishly.

Ok, serious enough?

[slappyharry]

farmers need sex aswell