Precaution, not panic, needed to deal with bird flu

November 28, 2005 Press Release

Background Information

Take a precautionary approach to the threat of avian flu, says a group of agriculture and food organizations in British Columbia, including the BC Food Systems Network, the Certified Organic Associations of BC, and FarmFolk/CityFolk.

The government and the CFIA should focus on avoiding the mutation of the common H5N1 bird flu virus to its rare and lethal form instead of trying in vain to prevent all contact between domestic poultry and wild birds which may be carrying the harmless, common form of the virus.

The coalition wants a radical change to the way in which poultry is raised in BC.

"You can't make the system invulnerable to viruses using high-tech bio-security measures, a 'gun registry' style central database for all livestock, and periodic elimination of large numbers of birds," says Cathleen Kneen, Executive Director of the BC Food Systems Network.

"It's the intensive, enclosed poultry operations which are the cause, not the solution, to disease problems. Furthermore, the concentration of poultry operations in the Fraser Valley increases the risk of disease spreading via chicken industry workers chicken catchers, inspectors, farmers that go from farm to farm. It also pollutes the aquifer."

The coalition is calling fewer and smaller poultry operations in the Lower Mainland. The industry should depend on small, genetically diverse flocks with outdoor access and adequate space indoors when bad weather prevents the birds from going outdoors. By raising a variety of different breeds, poultry operators will not just slow the progress of any poultry disease but also preserve bird bio-diversity for the future.

Current preventive and early-warning measures should also be maintained to protect public health until the recommended production method changes are made.

The virus recently identified in two ducks in the Fraser Valley was a benign form that did not pose a threat to human health. The two flocks were liquidated and all farms in the immediate area were quarantined.

“It’s a knee-jerk reaction,” says Deb Foote, President of the Certified Organic Associations of BC. “Killing all the birds that might have contact with the infection may stop the problem in the short term, but unless we take a systemic approach, the problem will just recur. Since the disease is highly contagious, the only defense is to prevent it from becoming virulent.”

While wild birds may be carriers of the common form of avian flu, it is the concentration of very large numbers of genetically uniform birds in an enclosed environment that provides ideal conditions for the virus to mutate into a more virulent form.

In Asia, large numbers of people and birds in close contact with each other appears to be the source of the transmission of flu from birds to humans.

“The precautionary approach would be to decentralize poultry production and emphasize biodiversity,” says Kneen. “By mimicking the conditions of the wild bird population in our poultry production system small groups and broad genetic diversity we will maintain the conditions that prevent a dangerous form of the virus from evolving.”

Groups such as the BC SPCA and the Beyond Factory Farming Coalition have been calling for such a move for some time, on the grounds that intensive livestock practices are inhumane and unjust. Now, they say, evidence is mounting that they are unhealthy as well.

Re-published here with permission.