The Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST) yesterday said it suspected that the Council of Agriculture had concealed cases of avian influenza for more than two years and had lied to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in its reports.
The group said former premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and former Council of Agriculture minister Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) should be held responsible for the cover up.
EAST disclosed two documents from 2010, dated March 1 and March 8, that the council’s Animal Health Research Institute sent to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine. The documents showed that two technical group meetings held on Feb. 25 and March 5 that year had already received H5N2 Intravenous Pathogenicity Index [IVPI] lab results, which showed readings above 1.2 and 2.41, indicators that the strains were highly pathogenic.
Readings greater than 1.2 in an IVPI test on a six-week-old chicken indicate a highly pathogenic strain.
However, the council’s four reports to the OIE that year all said that the cases were “of a low pathogenic level,” EAST executive director Wu Hung (朱增宏) said, adding that the council should explain why it added “clinical high death rate” as a criteria for determining a virus strain’s severity.
The association received a report from an undisclosed source in early 2010 that said an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza had occurred and that the council was trying to cover up the fact, Wu Hung said, adding that to confirm the report, the association had asked the bureau to provide any related documents, but the bureau refused, saying they were “official confidential information.”
Wu Hung said the association had filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court against the bureau for violating the Freedom of Government Information Act (政府資訊公開法), but it was rejected. It is now in the process of being appealed at the Taipei High Administrative Court.
Chen Yen-chun (陳彥君), a lawyer from Primordial Law Firm, which was commissioned by the association to pursue the case, said the bureau must provide other legal sources to explain why the documents were classified “confidential, official use only.”
Furthermore, the bureau’s response — “check foreign official Web sites on the Internet by yourself” — was not an adequate government attitude, because it is the government’s duty to answer public inquiries, Chen Yen-chun said.
EAST director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said when facing outbreaks of bird flu in Southeast Asia in March 2006, the National Security Council had formulated a policy prohibiting all slaughter of poultry in traditional markets and funds were made available for several government agencies to enforce the policy.
“However, right before the official enactment day on April 1, 2010, the council released a proclamation saying that because the conditions of avian influenza had stabilized and in consideration of the public’s eating habits, selling and slaughtering live poultry in traditional markets would be allowed,” Chen Yu-min said.
The outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza was occurring in Taiwan at that time, so how could the council make such a risky decision, Chen Yu-min asked.
The group said the council had concealed the truth from the OIE, the media and the public for two years, not just for 70 days since the outbreak in Changhua County in December last year.
They urged the Control Yuan to find out who should be held responsible for the decision to cover-up the outbreak.
At a separate setting, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also blamed Chen Wu-hsiung for the controversy.
Under Chen Wu-hsiung’s leadership, the council betrayed its professionalism and filed a false report on the outbreak, DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said.
The council’s report was first submitted to the OIE on Jan. 10, four days before the presidential election, the OIE Web site shows.
In a follow-up report on Saturday, the council still listed the outbreak as having a low pathogenic level.
The government’s handling of the case is a major mistake, Lin said, adding that the latest outbreak of H5N2 influenza could be blamed on the inaction and incompetence of the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Facing a similar crisis when it was in office, the DPP -administration adopted a standard operating procedure in handling avian influenza outbreaks — culling poultry, sterilizing poultry farms, taking control of contaminated farms and making public announcements on the spread of the disease, Lin said.
“There was no severe outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza during the DPP administration, and it was not because we were lucky, but because we always took the matter seriously,” he said.
At a press conference yesterday, Chen Wu-hsiung denied any wrongdoing during his term and said: “I have nothing to apologize for.”
The former minister, who stepped down last month said the report by Kevin H. J. Lee (李惠仁), a freelance journalist who spent more than six years investigating avian influenza in Taiwan and first reported on its spread in his documentary titled A Secret That Can’t Be Exposed (不能戳的秘密), only presented “partial facts” on the matter.
He said he would be willing to discuss the matter with Lee or anyone in an open debate.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military