IMPROVEMENT OF RESPONSE PROCEDURES FOR ANIMAL HEALTH RELATED EMERGENCIES (2005)

 

On January 17, 2005, the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Minister Responsible for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (the CFIA) announced the completion of the CFIA’s review of its management of the Avian Influenza outbreak entitled “Lesson Learned Review: The CFIA’s Response to the 2004 Avian Influenza Outbreak in BC” (the Report).  In the Report, the CFIA outlined a number of areas for improvement for the management of such outbreaks. Examples of such areas include clarification of the role of industry stakeholders in the decision making process, data management, and knowledge of existing emergency response plans and execution of standard operating procedures. The Report also outlines recommendations for the areas of improvement identified in the report and the CFIA’s implementation of these recommendations, which is many cases is an ongoing process.

 

Poultry sector business owners in the affected area in BC, along with the owners of businesses in other sectors that were directly and indirectly affected by the outbreak, have concerns about the handling of the crisis by the CFIA that relate to the areas for improvement identified in the Report. In particular, business owners contend that the disposal methods could have been improved earlier on in the crisis to prevent the virus from spreading from birds being disposed of through airborne dust, dander and feathers and that the CFIA would have benefited from more industry consultation in this regard.

 

As a result of these concerns, those involved in the poultry sector and related sectors of the economy feel there is an urgent need to develop and implement improvements to the procedures followed by the CFIA and other government agencies when responding to and managing animal health related emergencies, including the improvements outlined in the Report.  For the purposes of this policy statement animal health related emergencies includes emergencies arising from contaminated animal feed.

 

In addition to learning the lessons of the Avian Influenza outbreak in BC, The Chamber feels that this process should include a review of the lessons learned from similar international animal health related emergencies such as Foot and Mouth and BSE in the UK and the Avian Influenza crisis in Asia to ensure that the procedures developed ensure that Canada and BC are the best prepared jurisdictions in the world.

 

THE CHAMBER RECOMMENDS

 

That the provincial government:

 

1. immediately establish a panel comprised of the appropriate government agencies, including the CFIA, representatives of the poultry sector, representatives of related sectors of the economy and the Agricultural Council of BC to develop and implement, on the basis of the Report and international experiences, a national response protocol for animal health emergencies; and

 

2. ensure that a cornerstone of this protocol is immediate and continued industry consultation upon the detection of a virus or similar disease agent and participation of industry representatives in the decision making process during the management of an outbreak.