Taiwan’s success in eliminating foot-and-mouth disease has been due to respect accorded animal health experts, Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday, amid speculation that the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is ready to remove the nation from a list of countries free of the disease without vaccination, perhaps as early as today.
Removal from the OIE’s list means that Taiwan would be able to export fresh pork products once again.
Taiwan had been free of foot-and-mouth disease for more than 68 years before an outbreak of the disease in March 1997, forcing the culling of millions of pigs and crippling the nation’s pork industry.
Photo: Yen Hung-chun, Taipei Times
The council first tried ending the use of foot-and-mouth vaccines for pigs in January 2009, but the following month seven cases of the disease were reported, Chen said.
In June 2016, the Executive Yuan established an interdepartmental task force overseen by COA Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) to tackle the disease, Chen said, adding that the task force succeeded because it took advice from animal health experts and acted upon it.
It tried again on July 1, 2018, to end the vaccination program, acting on the experts’ advice, and that turned out to be the correct choice, he said.
The 2009 attempt failed as the virus was still present in the environment, so the council made sure farms were thoroughly disinfected and monitored before ending vaccinations the second time, he said.
The council also encouraged pig farmers to vaccinate all of their livestock to eliminate carriers, and then tested sentinel pigs at each farm to ensure no trace of the virus remained, he said.
A sentinel animal is one that is deliberately placed in an environment to detect the presence of an infectious agent.
The council then designated one slaughterhouse each for the north, east, south and west of Taiwan proper to slaughter all of the pigs for that area, Huang said.
The sentinel pig from each farm would remain in the slaughterhouse for 18 hours before being retested to ensure they were not infected, he added.
In comparison, the sentinel pigs in 2009 were only isolated for four hours, and were tested only once, Huang said.
In 2018, the council also monitored the pigs’ antibodies to see whether they were created by contact with the virus or because of vaccination, which it had not done on the first attempt, he said.
It was confirmed that the vaccine caused the antibodies that were found, Huang added.
Finally, he maintained good communication with pig farmers to ensure that they cooperated with the council’s measures, he said.
Some farmers were initially not convinced it was safe to end vaccinations a second time, but eventually they came around when they realized the government’s resolve, Huang said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College