To import or not to import

The Organization International des Epizooties (OIE) has not ruled for or against the importation of meat by the Philippines from a country that is not free from foot-and-mouth disease like India, according to the head of a hog raisers’ organization. Nemesio G. Co, chairman of the National Federation of Hog Farmers Inc. (NFHFI) said the group that is lobbying for the importation of meat from India wants the public to believe that OIE has settled the issue between the hog farmers and meat importing processors in favor of the latter.

"Carabao meat importers are not content with importing millions of kilos yearly for processing into corned beef, hotdogs and other processed meat products. Now, they want the right to import carabao meat and sell them in wet markets," Co said, adding that this practice will be "most dangerous" for the country as the FMD virus when thawed are revived and will be spread far and wide by the wind to commercial and backyard hog farms.

According to NFHFI president Albert R.T. Lim Jr., the actual position of David Wilson, head of the of the OIE’s international trade department, is that "the OIE develops animal health standards that member countries can use to protect themselves from disease incursions. The OIE’s standards for international trade terrestrial animals and their products are defined in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code."

Lim said the code is designed as a reference document to guide the chief veterinary officers of OIE member countries in establishing animal health regulations that their countries should apply. Under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, an OIE member country has the right to establish its own standards on the basis of the knowledge gained from a risk analysis.

"It is...crystal clear that the OIE has not and will not rule for or against importation of carabao meat by the Philippines. Only the Philippine government or its agencies can make such a decision," Lim said.

This, he said, has been shown by the Department of Agriculture in a hearing in Congress in November 2003 where Agriculture Secretary Luis P. Lorenzo Jr. took a stand against meat importation from FMD-infected countries and zones. Lim quoted Lorenzo as saying: "I cannot in conscience expose any human or for that matter any animal from the far-reaching effects of a dangerous disease."

Lim said this is the same reason why NFHFI is against meat imports from India and other FMD risk countries and zones. "The Philippines has to protect its people and livestock business against disease resulting from FMD," he said.

Lim pointed out that the OIE, in a letter dated April 5, 2004, clearly states that "the Terrestrial Code recommends that the meat may be safely imported provided that certain restrictions are applied to the animals from which the meat is derived. If importation is carried strictly in accordance with the Code, there should be no concerns about such imports."

According to Lim, the aim of the code is to assure the sanitary safety of international trade of terrestrial animals and their products. This, he said, should be achieved through detailed health measures to be used by the veterinary authorities of importing and exporting countries to avoid the transfer of agents pathogenic for animals and humans while avoiding unjustified sanitary barriers.

In the chapter on FMD covering the importation of fresh meat from an FMD-infected country with an official control program involving vaccination, the code recommends that the meat may be safely imported provided certain restrictions are applied to the animals from which the meat is derived.

The restrictions are: They should be vaccinated against FMD at least twice and that they be kept for the previous 30 days in an establishment more than 10 kilometers away from any FMD outbreak and that they be slaughtered in an approved abattoir and they should be subjected to ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections for FMD with favorable results. The code also recommends that the meat from a deboned carcass be subjected to maturation process.

The lobby has ignored these restrictions from the code of the OIE and present their position to the public as a blanket assurance that carabao meat from FMD risk source is safe, Lim lamented.

"What OIE says is if you follow the terrestrial code strictly, meat importation may be safe. If there are glitches in our implementation of the Code, thereby sparking off a another round of nationwide FMD epidemic that requires us to burn infected animals again making small backyard hog farmers go bankrupt again, we cannot run to the OIE complaining. And since it is our fault let us not be fooled with big and little lies. We should make our choices soberly and wisely for the greatest good and the least harm," he said.