- The federal government has ordered the slaughter of 19
million farm birds in the Fraser Valley in a last-ditch bid to halt the
spread of avian flu.
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- Despite the unprecedented measure, Agriculture Minister
Bob Speller and senior officials could not guarantee the highly contagious
disease will not spread further.
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- Speller said Monday in Ottawa he authorized the cull
on the recommendation of scientists with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,
who believe containment measures in place around the epicentre of the flu
outbreak in Abbotsford may not be sufficient.
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- Speller would not speculate on how much government compensation
would ultimately be made available.
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- "We're focusing on eradication," he said. "Doing
this to 19 million birds has never been done before."
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- The federal decision is supported by the poultry industry
despite looming economic disruptions.
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- "It's devastating for everyone involved," said
Rick Thiessen, president of the B.C. Chicken Growers Association. "These
aren't just workers, they are family farms, family members. It's a very
emotional time. . . ."
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- In Abbotsford, CFIA regional veterinarian Blaine Thompson
said nearly 500 workers will be enlisted to test birds -- not just chickens,
but geese, turkeys and ducks -- and continue the process of killing poultry
infected with avian flu.
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- It could take up to two months for all the infected poultry
to be destroyed. So far, about 300,000 of the 500,000 known diseased birds
have been killed.
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- Possible extermination methods include carbon-dioxide
poisoning, which suffocates the chickens through lack of oxygen.
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- The agency is still discussing use of the Greater Vancouver
Regional District incinerator in south Burnaby to dispose of carcasses,
as well as an unspecified landfill in the region.
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- Thompson said there is also the possibility of composting
the birds in barns combined with sawdust and water. "By doing that
it avoids some of the risks of loading it out and transporting the birds
a long distance."
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- Ron Lewis, the province's chief veterinarian, said blood
tests will be done on a sampling of five birds in each flock -- the sickest
looking specimens. Samples will be sent by chartered plane to the National
Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, a federal facility, with the results
available within two days.
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- "[The test] is extremely sensitive and accurate,"
said Lewis, acknowledging it is always small chance that an infected flock
might escape undetected. "We are very confident in our testing technique."
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- Lewis said the provincial laboratory will do the initial
sampling for producers at a charge of $30 per bird, a fee charged to the
chicken farmers. A negative finding means birds will be allowed to be sent
to market.
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- Dr. Danuta Skowronski, an epidemiologist with the B.C.
Centre for Disease Control, said the risk to humans is very low. Even if
a flu-infected chicken or turkey makes it to market, cooking the fowl even
at a low temperature of 69 degrees Celsius will kill the virus.
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- The bigger risk, she said, is from unsanitary handling
of an infected bird and improper cooking techniques. But even then, Skowronski
said, there has been no research that shows humans get avian flu by eating
cooked chickens.
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- Ray Nickel, president of the B.C. Poultry Committee,
representing all aspects of poultry production, said about 3,000 people
are employed on the processing side of the poultry industry and about 2,000
workers on farms.
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- "Their jobs are on the line," he said. "For
some of them, they may get some temporary employment with CFIA. But everyone
is just waiting to see what happens.
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- "This is going to be a devastating scenario for
us on the farms. We realize there is compensation. But like people with
mortgages, we have farm mortgages and we will have to make arrangements."
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- Premier Gordon Campbell said the federal government can
aid workers by dropping the one-month waiting period required before seeking
Employment Insurance.
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- "Obviously, it's going to be very difficult for
a lot of families and a lot of producers and that's why we're going to
work very hard to get the support they need to get through this."
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- The B.C. Chicken Growers Association said the massive
cull will be "devastating" for the province's poultry sector,
but added chicken farmers and processors support the killing as the "best
and quickest" way to get the industry back to normal.
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- About 600 chicken and turkey farmers -- 80 per cent of
the province's poultry producers -- will be affected and the direct cost
of the cull to farmers could be as high as $45 million, industry spokesmen
said.
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- Thiessen said many workers in the poultry industry will
have to be laid off and it will take six to eight weeks to destroy the
birds. Following that, it could take several months to cleanse the affected
farms and areas and re-establish new flocks, the vast majority of which
are grown in enclosed barns.
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- After farms are cleared of chicken carcasses, it takes
days for the manure to be cleaned out. Then, farmers must wait 21 days
before beginning to rebuild their flocks, if the agency gives the farms
and surrounding farms a clean bill of health.
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- Industry officials said it could take months before producers
begin the process of starting operations again.
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- An official, who accompanied Speller at the announcement,
said the federal food inspection agency is "reasonably confident"
destruction of poultry flocks will contain the disease. Asked if there
is any chance the virus could spread into Alberta, the officials said only
that the possibility was "extremely remote" and the disease could
"jump the mountains" only if it happened "deliberately."
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- The officials with Speller said the speed with which
the poultry will be killed is directly related to the ability of various
agencies to safely get rid of the carcasses, through incineration or mass
burial.
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- "We don't want to move any faster than we can dispose
of the birds," said agency scientist Francine Lord.
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- The B.C. poultry industry is worth about $1 billion per
year to the provincial economy, including farming, processing, wholesale
and retail. The farming sector itself is worth about $300-million annually.
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- The decision to expand the cull was taken after the contagion,
which first surfaced in mid-February in Matsqui Prairie near Sumas Mountain,
spread beyond the original five-kilometre hot zone as well as a 10-kilometre
surveillance zone.
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- Mike Dungate, general manager of Chicken Farmers of Canada,
said it could take up to six months to secure the farms and then re-establish
new stock.
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- Speller and his officials said once barns are cleaned,
officials will test for any remaining viral contamination by sending in
"sentinel" birds, to see if they contract the disease, before
re-introducing chicks on a production scale.
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- Dungate estimated up to eight million birds now in barns
are safe and will be allowed to enter the human food-supply chain once
they are killed. Scientists said samples of birds will be taken from each
barn or flock and will be tested for the flu to determine whether a flock
is safe to be slaughtered for food.
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- The avian flu is not considered a threat to humans, but
at least two workers caught mild forms of the H7 strain of the disease
and have recovered. Nearly 40 countries have restricted imports of Canadian
poultry due to the outbreak, although the European Union and the U.S. continue
to import poultry meat from other Canadian provinces.
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- - with file from CanWest News Service
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- © The Vancouver Sun 2004 http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news
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