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<DIV><B>From:</B> <A title=idrismd@tm.net.my
href="mailto:idrismd@tm.net.my">idrismd@tm.net.my</A> </DIV>
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face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION OF PENANG
(CAP)</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>NO. 10, JALAN MASJID NEGERI,
11600 PULAU PINANG, MALAYSIA</FONT></P>
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align=center><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">ALERT <o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">FOR INFORMATION / POSSIBLE
ACTION</FONT></SPAN></B><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> </FONT></FONT><U><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">24 March 2006<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></U></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><U><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></U> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><U><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></U> <B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">COMMERCIAL POULTRY AND ITS LINKS TO BIRD
FLU<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face=Arial size=2><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>Migratory birds were believed to be the cause of
the spread of the disease.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>The slaughter of poultry in all wet markets will
be banned as a precautionary measure to prevent the bird flu virus from
spreading to humans. This will mean squeezing out the small producers in
favour of the commercial poultry sector.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> This assumes that bird flu is a problem of
wild birds and backyard poultry practices not modern poultry farming.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>The emphasis on backyard poultry and the wild bird
theory ignores the role of the commercial poultry industry in the spread of the
H5N1 virus.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>According to a recent report published by GRAIN
(an international organization dealing with agricultural issues), the root of
the problem is the poultry industry and this must be the focus of efforts to
control the deadly H5N1 virus.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>Citing bird conservationists, wild birds are
victims not vectors of highly pathogenic (disease causing) avian influenza.
Highly pathogenic strains of bird flu develop in poultry, most likely poultry
exposed to milder strains that live naturally in wild bird
populations.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoBodyText2 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">In crowded
poultry operations, the wild virus evolves rapidly towards more pathogenic and
highly transmissible forms capable of jumping species and spreading back into
wild birds that are defenseless against the new strain. In this sense H5N1 is a
poultry virus killing wild birds, not the other way
around.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>Similarly, bird flu does not evolve to highly
pathogenic forms in backyard poultry, where low density and genetic diversity
keep the viral load to low levels. Backyard poultry are the victims of bird flu
strains brought in from elsewhere.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>When backyard poultry farms are separated from the
source of highly pathogenic bird flu, the virus seems to die out or evolve
towards a less pathogenic form.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>Migratory birds and backyard chickens are not
effective vectors of highly pathogenic bird flu. The virus kills them, but is
unlikely to be spread by them.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>In Laos, which is surrounded by infected
countries, the H5N1 outbreaks have occurred in the nation’s few factory farms,
which are supplied by Thai hatcheries. The only cases of bird flu in backyard
poultry, which account for over 90 percent of Laos’ production, occurred next to
the factory farms. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>According to the report, ‘the evidence we see over
and over again from the Netherlands in 2003 to Japan in 2004 to Egypt in 2006 is
that lethal flu breaks out in large scale industrial chicken farms and then
spreads’.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>In Nigeria, the outbreaks earlier this year began
at a single factory farm, owned by a Cabinet Minister, distant from hotspots for
migratory birds but known for importing unregulated hatchable eggs.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>In India, local authorities say that H5N1 emerged
and spread from a factory farm owned by the nation’s largest poultry company
Venkateshwara Hatcheries.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>As recently as November 2005, FAO has stated that
‘To date, extensive testing of clinically normal migratory birds in the infected
countries has not produced any positive results for H5N1 so far’.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>In fact, nearly all the wild birds that have tested positive for the
disease were dead and, in most cases, found near to outbreaks in domestic
poultry.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>According to Juan Lubroth, a senior officer with
FAO ‘It is very easy to blame wild birds and the migration of birds because
nobody is responsible. It is possible that wild birds may introduce the virus,
but it is through human activities of commerce and trade that the disease
spreads’.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoBodyText style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">WHO
states that a possible medium for the spread of bird flu is chicken feed. One of
the standard ingredients in industrial chicken feed is ‘poultry litter’ which
includes faecal matter, feathers, bedding as well as chicken meat. Bird flu can
survive in bird faeces for up to 35 days. Yet nothing is being done to tighten
regulations or monitoring of the feed
industry.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>The poultry industry that has swept Asia in recent
decades has produced rapid genetic erosion. Local production systems were
displaced by integrated systems that rely on a single source of parental stock
and small farms were encouraged to give up local breeds for high yielding breeds
that are often not suited to local conditions.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>According to the Chief of the Animal Production
Service of the FAO, ‘Developing animal genetic resources on farm in their
production environment is the most effective approach to maintain genetic
diversity … and provide insurance against future threats such as famine,
drought, and epidemics’. And there are reports from the World Organisation of
Animal Health of local chickens surviving the H5N1 virus.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoBodyText2 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">GRAIN
cautions that ‘The strategy to contain H5N1 by destroying the genetically
diverse backyard flocks and developing even more intensive poultry operations
will perversely increase the … likelihood of a human transmissible version of
lethal bird flu emerging from the large scale factory
farms’.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Instead,
immediate measures should be initiated to monitor and regulate the poultry and
the egg trade. Urgent efforts should be geared towards investigating how factory
farms and their by-products such as animal feed and manure spread the lethal
virus. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">CAP would like to make the following
recommendations which your organization may like to consider for
action:</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.35in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .35in"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN><FONT face="Times New Roman">Share the above information in
your country either using press releases or letters to the Government. If
your country practices factory farming for poultry, call for
investigations and monitoring. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.35in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .35in"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN><FONT face="Times New Roman">Forward this Alert to other
organizations in your country.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.35in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .35in"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">
</SPAN></SPAN><FONT face="Times New Roman">Write letters to WHO and FAO
calling for investigations based on the above information. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>
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