The International Conference on Avian Influenza and Poultry Trade, organized by the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspections Service (APHIS) with sponsorship from all of the major U.S. poultry trade associations, yielded a number of ideas for minimizing disruptions to international trade during avian flu outbreaks. These measures, if adopted globally, would put science and logic ahead of politics when it comes to determining when and where trade bans should be put in place.
Dr. Richard Hill, director, USDA APHIS Center for Veterinary Biologics, served as moderator in a discussion which summarized action items from the conference:
- International Standards – countries should be held accountable for following these
- Acceptance of compartments or zones - Zoning will only work if it is mutually recognized. Zones or regions have to be large enough to keep everything within it and not bigger than needed. Traceability has to be added to the OIE zoning chapter
- Biosecurity – Should biosecurity programs be added to food safety programs, like the SE control program for eggs in the U.S.? Everyone says they have biosecurity plans, but when a disease knocks on the door, it isn’t as good as we think it is. If the government makes indemnification payments, should they have oversight of this?
- Vaccination - Appropriate use of a DIVA (differentiating infection in vaccinated animals) vaccination program with need defined guidelines and an exit strategy should be OK.
- Risk-based commodity trade; movement; transit; mitigations – cooked and pasteurized products shouldn’t be affected
- Surveillance - data needs to be shared with trade partners
- Wild birds & Noncommercial flocks - Findings
without transmission to commercial birds shouldn’t impact trade.
These action items all make sense to me, but when it comes to international trade, politics usually trump science. Chief veterinary officers from around the world were invited, but there wasn’t a lot of overt support displayed for these measures by the conference attendees from outside North America or the primary breeding companies. The conference was conducted in English with simultaneous translation into just a few languages, so I hope that the consensus on these items is actually stronger than it appeared.
