Blood, Sweat and Tears in Holland
Over the past few years Holland has been affected by several major animal disease outbreaks. It started in 1997 with Classical Swine Fever (CSF) and continued with FMD in 2001 and AI (bird flu) in 2003. These outbreaks and especially the consequences shocked society as a whole. For the first time, animal fanciers and smallholders were confronted with the notion that the ‘innocent days’ of keeping some animals in the back yard were over. Suddenly we realized that something had to be done to safeguard smallholding and keeping animals as pets. And this was the beginning of the NBvH (Dutch Smallholders Association) in 2002.The first two years we were considered to be just a bunch of animal activists, but then our organization was accepted by the authorities as a serious partner in deliberations for future policies. They realized that the public would not accept another period of mass killing when an outbreak of any of the mentioned diseases occurred again.
What we have done
For the first time the authorities were confronted with the existence of smallholders and fanciers. Never before had these been in the picture or reckoned with in control policies. The NBvH became expert on all varieties of farm animals. Our main issues were, and are, the notifiable diseases and the registration of farm animals. We systematically interfered, with letters, to the Minister and to the Parliament. We asked/demanded for an audience with them - and were granted these many times. To make our point in Europe we also wrote to the MEPs and Marcos Kyprianou, the Commissioner. This way we tried to explain why differentiation between commercial and non-commercial holding is essential.
We were able to influence the new European Directives through the Dutch Department of Agriculture and the Dutch contingency plans for FMD, CSF and AI. The new Directive for bird flu was accepted just recently, in connection with which we drafted a letter to the EU-Council demanding to abandon the non-vaccination programme for industrial poultry: the only efficient way to fight the threatening situation regarding bird flu in the world.
Vaccination
In Holland, research into the role of hobby holders in connection with spreading the disease showed clearly that hobby animals are hardly/no risk. The real danger lies in the mass numbers of industrial poultry. The tiniest bit of virus material can infect tens of thousands of animals packed together in barns. The virus ejection, because of the ventilation system, is huge and creates mass outbreaks. Preventive vaccination is the solution.
Free range commercial poultry is at risk because of possible infection through migrating birds. This is still a point of discussion; many claim that the often sloppy checking and the hygiene of poultry transport, for instance, or the intensive contacts between producers are far more risky. Again preventive vaccination is the solution.
All the blood (from our animals), sweat (from our hard work) and tears (of sorrow) have brought the NBvH to a point where we do not stand alone in Europe any more. We are no longer talking about just a Dutch problem: because of the global threat of an AI-outbreak, we have at last convinced a huge number of organizations when we asked them to support the above mentioned letter to the Council. More than 40 European breeding and preservation organizations and 2 American organizations have joined. Never before had we been so successful.
Asian bird flu is out of control; in Africa the same situation is imminent. All over the world there is talk of a threatening pandemic. Are we going to wait for it to happen? Of course not. We have to pressure the authorities to take their responsibility, while they can still use the measures at hand: preventive vaccination of all commercial poultry. Let’s not forget that the new AI-Directive allows preventive vaccination when the international situation is threatening. Well, one could ‘safely’ say that we have a serious threat right now. And the available vaccines for the H5NI-virus, which are currently practised in Asia with success, could prevent the virus from mutating into the kind which is deadly for humans and for which there is as yet no vaccine.
The main reason why the authorities are holding back on preventive vaccination lies in trade guarantees. The producers are very much willing to start vaccination but, without guarantees from the processing businesses, they cannot afford to. Supermarkets will not sell vaccinated products at the same prices as non-vaccinated products. This is crazy, because all the authoritative organizations like OIE and FAO have stated that vaccinated products are perfectly safe for consumption. Also, many vaccinated products have been imported for several years without any problems from South America and Africa. We are already consuming meat which is vaccinated for all kinds of other diseases, and we have never complained. Why then are we making such a fuss over bird flu-vaccination? Politics and economics – money, that’s why.
Our next action is writing Europe-wide to the supermarket chains and demanding their cooperation in the vaccination programme.
What we must do
All hobby holders’ organizations (in Holland we have joined forces with Aviornis International and the Foundation for Preservation of Rare Breeds in a working group for poultry and waterfowl holders, called NWPP) have to bury their differences, stand together and lobby each government continuously with letters and articles to force them to abandon the non-vaccination programme. A programme which was based on the illusion that an outbreak every ten years would be cheaper than vaccinating every year during these ten years. This illusion turned out to be a disaster. Not only were there many uncalculated financial costs (for instance in linked industries like transport and tourism) but also unexpected outrage in society in general. The trauma to children who lost their pets, to breeders who lost valuable bloodlines and to fanciers who lost their favourites, is still fresh in our memories. There is a limit to what we can take.
The time is ripe to act. Europe has to step forward. Shouldn’t the British smallholders, breeders and fanciers also step forward now to protect their centuries-old hobby of breeding special varieties and species?
27 December 2005