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Avian Influenza Daily Digest
December 1, 2008 15:15 GMT
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Quid Novi
India: Avian flu-hit birds culled
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Philippines: avian influenza diagnostic lab in Zambo
12/2/08 Asia Pulse, contributed by email--Mayor Celso Lobregat has lauded the Department of Agriculture (DA) for setting up the Regional Avian Influenza Diagnostic Laboratory (RAIDL) in this city that would serve as a control center for the dreaded avian influenza virus or avian flu commonly known as bird flu.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia: Bird flu kills 11 over past 4 years
12/1/08 Jakarta Post--Eleven people died from bird flu between 2005 and November, 2008 in Central Java, an official said Thursday. The head of the Central Java Health Agency's Environment Rehabilitation and Handling Unit, Djoko Mardijanto, said that the disease had widely spread in 10 regions in Central Java, including Semarang city, Magelang, Boyolali, Banjarnegara, Sukoharjo, Wonogiri, Grobogan, Kendal, Sragen and Semarang regencies.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indian Health Minister reports Assam bird flu due to migratory birds
12/1/08 New Kerala-- Migratory birds are behind the fresh outbreak of bird flu in Assam, Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said Saturday, adding that culling operations had started in the northeastern state and 'inter-country bird movements are under close scrutiny'.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Science and Technology
Use of a commercial immunoassay for rapid detection of influenza A antigen in ducks
November 2008 Veterinary Record--Wild waterfowl are the natural host and reservoir of all subtypes of influenza A virus (Stallknecht and Shane 1988, Alexander 2000). Species susceptibility varies widely among waterfowl and most viral isolates, mainly of low pathogenic avian influenza, are obtained from ducks (Stallknecht and Shane 1988, Stallknecht 1997, Björn and others 2006). Influenza A virus isolates are obtained with highest frequency from domestically raised mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) (Stallknecht 1997).
AI Research
Which virus will birds give us next?
12/1/08 New Scientist--just flu that we have birds to thank for over the millennia. It seems they also gave us one kind of common cold - and it made the jump relatively recently.
AI Research
Scientists say it's time to let GM genie out of the bottle
12/1/08 New Zealand Herald--John Lowenthal is praising chickens - in particular the broiler variety which takes just 42 days to grow from egg to maturity. The extraordinary bird, bred to grow big, fast and plump for our dinner tables, could undoubtedly play a significant role in fighting world hunger. Especially because the Australian scientist and his CSIRO research team at the high security Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Victoria may just have the technology to breed an avian flu-resistant chicken.
Science and Technology
Pandemic Preparedness
Malaysia a model in pandemic preparedness
12/1/08 The Star--The United Nations Pandemic Influenza Contingency (PIC) often uses Malaysia as an example of a country with a comprehensive level of preparedness to face a pandemic, says its senior planning adviser Ian Clarke.
Pandemic Preparedness
Scientists plan ?Big Brother? flu experiment
12/1/08 Financial Times--British researchers plan to recruit 200 volunteers to be infected with flu while living together during week-long experiments, in order to deepen understanding of how to tackle a pandemic.
Pandemic Preparedness
Public AI Blogs
Bird flu resistant GM chickens?
12/1/08 Effect Measure--[full text]--Genetically modified crops is not a special interest of mine, which is a good thing because once you get into that controversy you are like the worker who gets his sleeve caught in the machine: before long you are dragged into the gears and badly mauled. I'm not reflexively against it. I recognize that what GM advocates have been saying has more than a grain of truth: we've been engaged in genetic engineering of crops since agriculture was domesticated. Modern genetic techniques have amplified that ability by orders of magnitude, but the result is the same.
Public AI Blog Discussions
Full Text of Articles follow ...
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Philippines: avian influenza diagnostic lab in Zambo
12/2/08 Asia Pulse, contributed by email--Mayor Celso Lobregat has lauded the Department of Agriculture (DA) for setting up the Regional Avian Influenza Diagnostic Laboratory (RAIDL) in this city that would serve as a control center for the dreaded avian influenza virus or avian flu commonly known as bird flu.
Lobregat said that Western Mindanao in general and Zamboanga City in particular are now clinically capable of detecting and controlling bird flu the next time it mutates in this city or in the region.
The RAIDL was inaugurated Thursday at the DA's regional office and graced by top DA officials like Assistant Secretary Dennis Araullo, Dr. Carlos Mendoza, Dr. Davinio Catbangan and DA Regional Director Oscar Parawan.
The ceremony was followed by a workshop on Avian Influenza Protection Program (AIPP) that includes update on Avian Influenza Global Status and AIPP.
The participating local government units also presented their respective work plans.
Lobregat cited an incident about three years ago when an avian flu scare swept across the country following an outbreak of the disease in some nearby countries and other parts of the world.
Lobregat said the avian flu scare at the time appeared too real for Zamboanga City since this city is home to thousands of migratory birds to include swallows that can be seen at dusk resting on power lines in downtown areas.
World Health Organization (WHO) records showed that millions of birds had been infected with the virus as of November 2007 and 206 people had died in 12 countries.
Of the 206, the avian flu caused the deaths of at least 200 people in China, Indonesia, Laos, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam.
This prompted health officials to make the setting up of avian influenza disease control centers as a top priority.
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Kind regards,
Claudinne
AI Research
Use of a commercial immunoassay for rapid detection of influenza A antigen in ducks
November 2008 Veterinary Record I. S. Zarkov, PhD, Department of Microbiology, Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Thracian University, 6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
Wild waterfowl are the natural host and reservoir of all subtypes of influenza A virus (Stallknecht and Shane 1988, Alexander 2000). Species susceptibility varies widely among waterfowl and most viral isolates, mainly of low pathogenic avian influenza, are obtained from ducks (Stallknecht and Shane 1988, Stallknecht 1997, Björn and others 2006). Influenza A virus isolates are obtained with highest frequency from domestically raised mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) (Stallknecht 1997).
It is of great epidemiological and diagnostic importance to define the period of virus excretion from infected birds and to detect excretion quickly. The technique used most often to define the period of excretion is virus isolation in chicken embryos, which can be applied to samples from all bird species (Anon 2008). The drawback of this method is the long time that is necessary for isolation and identification. Rapid diagnostic tests to detect influenza A viral antigen in specimens from birds are not available; attempts are being made to adapt rapid tests designed for use in human beings. Among these tests, the highest sensitivity is displayed by Directigen Flu A (Becton-Dickinson Microbiology Systems) (Woolcock and Cardona 2005).
The Directigen Flu A antigen detection test employs an immunomembrane filter assay to detect influenza A viral antigen extracted from suitable samples from symptomatic people. The total test time is less than 15 minutes, with reactivity determined by visual assessment of colour development. Nasopharyngeal wash and aspirate samples have been shown to be superior to nasopharyngeal and throat swab samples, and are the samples of choice for the test.
This rapid antigen test has been used experimentally several times in veterinary medicine, and its ability to detect influenza A virus-infected chickens is well established (Ryan-Poirier and others 1992, Slemons and Brugh 1998, Woolcock and Cardona 2005). It has been used rarely with turkeys (Zarkov 2008) and wild birds (Chua and others 2007). Only one duck that died in an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in Penfold Park, Hong Kong, has been examined with this test, and the result was negative (Chua and others 2007). There are no data on the use of the test with ducks infected with low pathogenic avian influenza viruses. This short communication describes a study to determine the ability of the Directigen Flu A test to detect low pathogenic avian influenza infection in ducks.
Low pathogenic avian influenza virus of the H6N2 subtype, obtained from a wild mallard in Bulgaria, was used at a titre of 105 50 per cent embryo lethal dose per 0·1 ml (Zarkov and others 2006). Seven 30-day-old mallard ducklings were inoculated intratracheally and orally with 0·1 ml allantoic fluid from chicken embryos infected with the viral strain; as an uninfected control, two similar ducklings were inoculated with 0·1 ml allantoic fluid from intact chicken embryos. The birds did not show clinical signs of disease throughout the experiment.
Cloacal and oropharyngeal swabs were taken from all the birds on day 0 (before inoculation) and on days 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21 and 28 after inoculation. A 10 per cent suspension of each sample was prepared in minimum essential medium and inoculated into the allantoic sacs of three nine-day-old chicken embryos for virus isolation and then tested by the rapid antigen assay (Zarkov 2008). The results of virus isolation in chicken embryos and of the commercial test were compared following the method of Courtney and Cornell (1990). The infected ducks yielded positive results for virus isolation in chicken embryos up to day 21, and up to day 7 by the rapid antigen test. All the samples from the uninfected birds gave negative results.
The overall proportion of samples positive by virus isolation (Table 1) was 34·5 per cent (50 per cent of the cloacal samples and 19 per cent of the oropharyngeal samples). Virus could be isolated from the cloacal samples until day 21, but from the oropharyngeal samples only until day 10 postinfection. The number of isolates varied with time. Most were obtained early in the infection; on day 3 postinfection, five of seven cloacal samples and five of seven oropharyngeal samples (71·4 per cent) were positive, but on day 21 only two of seven (28·6 per cent) cloacal samples were positive.
Comparison of the results of virus isolation in chicken embryos and the rapid antigen test showed differences in favour of virus isolation in chicken embryos for both cloacal and pharyngeal swabs. The cloacal samples were approximately 2·5 times more likely to be positive by virus isolation (50 per cent v 21·4 per cent); for the oropharyngeal samples, virus isolation gave positive results four times as often as the rapid test (19 per cent v 4·8 per cent). In addition, the rapid antigen test was able to detect virus only until day 7 post-inoculation, compared with day 21 by virus isolation (on cloacal samples).
The sensitivity of the Directigen Flu A test compared with virus isolation in chicken embryos is 37·6 per cent at 100 per cent specificity (there were no samples positive by the rapid antigen test and negative by virus isolation) and 78·6 per cent agreement of the results. For the cloacal samples, the rapid antigen test showed 80 per cent sensitivity on day 3 post-inoculation, decreasing to 75 per cent on day 5 and 50 per cent on day 7. For the oropharyngeal samples, the sensitivity on day 3 was 40 per cent. An overall correlation of 71·4 per cent between the two tests was established; for the cloacal samples, on day 3 and 5 it was 85·7 per cent, on day 7 71·4, and for the oropharyngeal samples on day 3 the correlation was 57·1 per cent.
The results suggest that the Directigen Flu A test can be used for rapid detection (within 15 minutes) of low pathogenic avian influenza viruses in mallard ducks, albeit with a sensitivity only approximately one-third that of virus isolation. The cloacal samples yielded better results than the oropharyngeal samples, showing higher sensitivity (42·9 per cent), correlation of the results for the two tests and a longer period of detection of positive samples. The cloacal samples gave positive results with the rapid antigen test only at the beginning of the infection (for up to a week). The oropharyngeal samples produced uncertain results because positive results were obtained within a very short period postinfection and the test had a lower sensitivity to them (25 per cent).
It is well established that ducks are a natural host of most influenza A virus subtypes, and the infection is mostly subclinical. In ducks, low pathogenic avian influenza viruses are primarily transmitted by the faecal-oral route (Capua and Alexander 2006). It is possible that the longer persistence of virus in the cloaca compared with the oropharynx is due to virus entering the cloaca from both the anterior gastrointestinal tract and the kidneys via the ureters. Such a hypothesis is indirectly supported by the work of Slemons and Swayne (1990), who isolated virus both from the cloacae (95·2 per cent) and the kidneys (61·9 per cent) of chickens.
References
ANON (2008) Avian influenza. In Health Standards Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals. Part 2. OIE Listed Diseases and Other Diseases of Importance to International Trade. Paris, OIE. Pp. 265-281.
ALEXANDER, D. J. (2000) A review of avian influenza in different bird species. Veterinary Microbiology 74, 3-13.
BJÖRN, O., MUNSTER, V., WALLENSTEN, A., WALDENSTRÖM, J., OSTERHAUS, A. & FOUCHIER, R. (2006) Global patterns of influenza A virus in wild birds. Science 312, 384 -388.
CHUA, T-H., ELLIS, T. M., WONG, C. W., GUAN, Y., GE, S. X., PENG, G., LAMICHHANE, C., MALIADIS, C., TAN, S-W., SELLECK, P. & PARKINSON, J. (2007) Performance evaluation of five detection tests for avian influenza antigen with various avian samples. Avian Diseases 51,96-105.
CAPUA, I. & ALEXANDER, D. (2006) Avian influenza infections in birds - a moving target. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 1, 11-18.
COURTNEY, C. H. & CORNELL, J. A. (1990) Evaluation of heartworm immunodiagnostic tests. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 197, 724-729.
RYAN-POIRIER, K. A., KATZ, J. M., WEBSTER, R. G. & KAWAOKA, Y. (1992) Application of Directigen Flu-A for the detection of influenza A virus in human and nonhuman specimens. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 30, 1072-1075.
SLEMONS, R. & BRUGH, M. (1997) Rapid antigen detection as an aid in early diagnosis and control of avian influenza.Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Avian Influenza . Athens, USA, May 28 to 31, 1997. pp 313-317.
SLEMONS, R. D. & SWAYNE, D. E. (1990) Replication of a water fowl-origin influenza virus in the kidney and intestine of chickens. Avian Diseases 34, 277-284.
STALLKNECHT, D. E. (1997) Ecology and epidemiology of avian influenza viruses in wild bird population: waterfowl, shorebirds, pelicans, cormorants, etc. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Avian Influenza. Athens, USA,May 28 to 31, 1997. pp 61-69.
STALLKNECHT, D. E. & SHANE, S. E. (1988) Host range of avian influenza virus in free-living birds. Veterinary Research Communications 12,125 -141.
WOOLCOCK, P. & CARDONA, C. (2005) Commercial immunoassay kits for the detection of influenza virus type A: evaluation of their use with poultry. Avian Diseases 49, 477-481.
ZARKOV, I. (2008) Use of commercial immunoassay for rapid detection of influenza A antigen in experimentally infected turkeys. Veterinary Record 162,126-127.
ZARKOV, I., MANVELL, R., SHELL, W. & BOCHEV, I. (2006) Isolation of avian influenza virus in Bulgaria. Veterinary Record 158,106-107.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indonesia: Bird flu kills 11 over past 4 years
12/1/08 Jakarta Post--Eleven people died from bird flu between 2005 and November, 2008 in Central Java, an official said Thursday. The head of the Central Java Health Agency's Environment Rehabilitation and Handling Unit, Djoko Mardijanto, said that the disease had widely spread in 10 regions in Central Java, including Semarang city, Magelang, Boyolali, Banjarnegara, Sukoharjo, Wonogiri, Grobogan, Kendal, Sragen and Semarang regencies.
According to the agency's data, there was one case of bird flu infecting a human in 2005. This increased to three cases in 2006, then five cases in 2007. 2008 has seen a decrease, with three cases detected as of November. Six of the 12 victims died as they did not receive hospital for treatment in time. Djoko said that when they were finally admitted, they were in terrible condition and staff had to work hard to handle the fatal disease. "Fifty percent of bird flu contaminations are caused by direct contact with poultry, while the other 50 percent is related to unhealthy environments," Djoko said, adding that the agency had distributed tamiflu, guide books on handling the disease and specially trained medical staff to clinics and hospital to help cope with any new cases.
Pandemic Preparedness
Malaysia a model in pandemic preparedness
12/1/08 The Star--The United Nations Pandemic Influenza Contingency (PIC) often uses Malaysia as an example of a country with a comprehensive level of preparedness to face a pandemic, says its senior planning adviser Ian Clarke.
He said that Malaysia was picked as a model to other nations in the Asian region because it had an inclusive preparedness ? where the relevant parties successfully formed a cohesive battle unit to fight the pandemic when danger struck.
Clarke spoke to The Star during the world?s first Pandemic Logistics Learning Exercise (P2LX) at the national service camp in Kuala Kubu Baru yesterday.
P2LX, coordinated by the World Food Programme with support from Mercy Malaysia and World Health Organisation, is a training programme to enhance readiness and response when a pandemic strikes.
It had 200 local and foreign participants.
Clarke urged Malaysia to continue being vigilant against pandemics because they would strike in the future as ?it is not a question of if, but when.?
?There is a need for public awareness on the risks of an outbreak,? said Clarke.
AI Research
Which virus will birds give us next?
12/1/08 New Scientist--just flu that we have birds to thank for over the millennia. It seems they also gave us one kind of common cold - and it made the jump relatively recently.
In 2001 Ron Fouchier and colleagues at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, discovered human metapneumovirus, one of many viruses that cause common colds. Although the resulting illness is usually mild, and most children have had it at least once by the age of 5, hMPV can cause lethal lung infections in small children.
By analysing similar viruses in birds, Fouchier's team has worked out that hMPV started as a bird virus and mutated to a form capable of infecting humans 200 years ago (Journal of General Virology, DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.2008/006957-0).
Because hMPV made the jump so recently, and is highly successful at infecting humans, Fouchier says it offers an opportunity to study how animal viruses adapt to people. His team is helping to build a catalogue of viruses in animals that often infect humans, with the aim of predicting which ones are most likely to become a danger to humans next.
Public AI Blog Discussions
Bird flu resistant GM chickens?
12/1/08 Effect Measure--[full text]--Genetically modified crops is not a special interest of mine, which is a good thing because once you get into that controversy you are like the worker who gets his sleeve caught in the machine: before long you are dragged into the gears and badly mauled. I'm not reflexively against it. I recognize that what GM advocates have been saying has more than a grain of truth: we've been engaged in genetic engineering of crops since agriculture was domesticated. Modern genetic techniques have amplified that ability by orders of magnitude, but the result is the same.
Science and Technology
Scientists say it's time to let GM genie out of the bottle
12/1/08 New Zealand Herald--John Lowenthal is praising chickens - in particular the broiler variety which takes just 42 days to grow from egg to maturity. The extraordinary bird, bred to grow big, fast and plump for our dinner tables, could undoubtedly play a significant role in fighting world hunger. Especially because the Australian scientist and his CSIRO research team at the high security Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Victoria may just have the technology to breed an avian flu-resistant chicken.
It's early days, he tells his audience at last week's 10th International Symposium on the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms in Wellington.
But the proof of concept project signals the cutting edge of genetic modification - gene silencing to create a resistance to viral infection which is then integrated into DNA, so it's passed on in future generations through normal breeding.
If it works, the avian influenza virus - which in its H5N1 strain has led to 240 reported human deaths in 15 countries - could be stopped in its tracks.
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Genetic modification - aka genetic engineering - in animals is perhaps the most controversial frontier of this burgeoning new science that reconstructs genes, most often by taking DNA code from one species and putting it into another. But it's this sort of advance - combating bird flu - that is changing public perceptions about a technology many view as too dangerous to be messing with.
It's worth noting, too, that the big broiler chickens Lowenthal praises - some of which have attracted animal welfare concerns because they seem too heavy to stand on their own feet - are created not by GM but by conventional breeding methods. And the GM intervention that Lowenthal proposes could be used across a range of animals to breed disease resistance.
GM advances don't stop there. The breast cancer drug herceptin comes via a genetically modified pathway. So does insulin - produced from genetically modified bacteria that are identical in structure to the insulin found in the human body.
There are also vaccines for cholera and hepatitis B produced using genetically modified bacteria acting as chemical factories. And other medicines, such as the anti-viral drug interferon - used for treating multiple sclerosis and cancer - is also a product of a GM process.
Technology messing about with goat genes has also enabled the production of ATryn, the first commercial recombinant form of human antithrombin, an anticoagulant which prevents blood clots. Yes, goats. American company Biotherapeutics, is harvesting - "biopharming" - antithrombin from goat's milk produced by a transgenic herd that originally hailed from New Zealand.
But if genetic modification can do so much good, why are we so much against it? New Zealand runs one of the strictest regulatory regimes controlling genetic modification in the world.
The legislation - the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act overseen by the Environmental Risk Management Authority (Erma) - is seen by many as a defacto moratorium on genetic modification. Since provisions relating to new organisms took effect in July 1998, just 16
GM contained field tests have been approved. Prior to this 50 GM field tests had been approved by the Minister for the Environment.
Among the 16 allowed were approvals to test GM cows modified to express the human lactoferrin protein in milk, GM onions modified for resistance to the herbicide glyphosate and GM brassicas (cabbages) for resistance to insects. None of the field tests have proceeded to commercial application.
Meanwhile the rest of the world ploughs ahead. Some 114 million hectares of GM crops were grown last year across 23 countries by 12 million farmers - the bulk of which were in resource poor areas.
Closer to home, the Australian Gene Technology Regulator has issued 64 licences, including 10 for commercial-scale releases: six for insect-resistant or herbicide-tolerant GM cotton, two for GM canola, one for GM carnations and one for a GM cholera vaccine. Limited and controlled
releases have been approved for 12 other plant species with a range of modifications including wheat (drought tolerance), bananas (enhanced nutrition), pasture grasses (improved forage) and rose (flower colour). Trials have also been approved for GM viral vaccines.
Costs - starting at a $35,000 plus GST but mounting to several hundred thousand dollars in time spent by staff and lawyers preparing an application - are one reason so few field trials are under way here. The time involved, including public hearings and consultation with Maori, is another.
Most applicants can expect a year-long process, but in one case it took two years. And this is just for contained field trials. Many scientists the Herald spoke to felt that not only would an application for commercial release never see the light of day, they simply didn't have the resources for such a battle.
It was a common lament among international delegates at the Biosafety Symposium too - that the burden of regulation has meant that only very large companies with very deep pockets had the resources to play the GM game. Little wonder that players such as Monsanto and Syngenta are able to wield such control in the market.
But New Zealand suffers from a further disadvantage - widespread public disapproval of the concept of GM. The concern, some would say fear, led to the 2001 Royal Commission on Genetic Modification which resulted in an overall policy of "proceeding with caution while preserving opportunities".
What we got was extreme timidity and opportunities few and far between. As Erma decision-maker Dr Max Suckling told the symposium, a new approach to GM in New Zealand would require a shift in the risk framework of the legislation - a change in some degree to its precautionary principle. "Our legislation is very risk-averse."
Risk aversion features strongly among New Zealand lobby groups - so much so that they want GM stopped dead. Two Crown Research Institutes have had field tests destroyed by anti-GM activists who have broken into secure areas and pulled up crops and cut down trees.
And in October, AgResearch's application to Erma to field-test transgenic animals was derailed by court action seeking a judicial review. AgResearch wanted to pursue the same line of research that Biotherapeutics, with its goats, has followed in the United States.
"Our main focus has been the production of proteins in milk," says AgResearch senior scientist Goetz Laible. The aim was to produce transgenic animals that could be bred to produce health-boosting milk - laden with human biopharmaceuticals, proteins, or antigens, enzymes, and hormones that will be useful for human health.
AgResearch is also investigating GM to fight animal diseases such as mastitis in cattle, and for finding ways to alter milk composition such as reducing allergens and modifying fat content.
GE Free NZ in Food and the Environment, which has filed the court action due to be heard in March, argues AgResearch's application is too generic and Erma, in allowing it to proceed, has made errors of law.
AgResearch's applications seek approval for any species within nine livestock genera (cows, buffalo, sheep, pigs, goats, llamas, alpacas, deer, and horses) and for several genera of laboratory animals. "This means that the applications cover 80 and possibly more species," says GE Free in its statement of claim. It also says there is an absence of information required by the HSNO Act. And that information provided is so limited or generic that it means the public are unable
to consider "whether or how they might be affected by the applications or make meaningful submissions in opposition or to propose conditions". GE Free is particularly concerned that "the gene sequences derived from animals, micro-organisms, viruses, plants or synthetic sequences and nucleic acids" are not specifically identified.
It's not the first time AgResearch has faced legal challenges. In 2003, Mothers Against Genetic Engineering (MaDGE) lost a court bid to stop an AgResearch application for the "outdoor" development of GM cattle and was ordered to pay $24,000 in court costs.
"Any delays are problematic for the research because we are competing with scientists around the world and it creates great uncertainty for
commercial applications," says Laible.
The Crown Research Institute also came under fire earlier this year from the Green Party which questioned explanations about a less than 9 per cent live birth rate in AgResearch's transgenic cattle. The Greens raised animal welfare concerns about "aborted deformed foetuses, deformed calves, gangrenous udders and 'animals suffering from respiratory conditions"'.
Laible says the company regularly faces inquiries via the official information act about its work. "Part of this is a misconception of what we are doing and that we are hiding something which is not the case." He says the complexities of the nuclear transfer (cloning) process is the reason why the efficiencies to generate animals have not been very high. "These problems don't originate from the different gene constructs we put, it is related more to the technology used to produce the animal."
Laible says the institute has always been open about what it's doing and allowed the media to visit and photograph its animals. Ironically, photographs of AgResearch's transgenic cows - which look the same as non-GM cows - are often used by media organisations as generic photos to illustrate stories about the dairy industry.
Laible says Biotherapeutics facility for its goat herd in the United States illustrates how the issue of risk with GM animals gets turned on its head. Typically, the overiding concern in GM field trials is containment - putting in place controls to ensure no genetic material escapes into the environment.
But when pharmaceuticals are involved, the principle concern is to make sure nothing gets in to contaminate the product. As such, transgenic herds must be kept
in highly secure environments with stringent controls to ensure the animals and their milk don't come into contact with infectious agents.
GE Free's legal action prevents Laible from commenting about AgResearch's current Erma application. But he points out GM science is moving so fast that it's important to have the freedom to use the latest GM tools and knowledge rather than re-invent the wheel - hence the need to be able to import and use GM products across a wide range of animals.
"What I find frustrating is that the issues haven't changed since our first animal trial approval," he says. "Essentially we are talking about the same scope, the same methodology, the same purposes.
"It's maybe slightly broader, but the risks are still pretty much the same. We have a good record and no problem with any escapes, but the process [of approval] doesn't get any faster. Why does it take so long when the issues are known?"
Back at the Biosafety Symposium, Claire Bleakley of GE Free NZ asks a question at the public forum: "The public is looking at what a transgene does. It is stitched together with viral, microbial and antibiotic elements. So we are creating a synthetic chromosome. The concern of the public is what it will do in an often foreign environment - whether it will jump, whether it will fragment in how it's put in, and how it will work with the diversity of nature.
"What is occurring in GM is we are getting a smaller and smaller pool of genetic diversity. We are breeding out what nature has bred in ... Species have their own integrity and we are breaching that by putting human genes into animals. Can you tell me how you address that risk?"
The question is answered by the Symposium programme chair, Jeremy Sweet, who has 17 years experience in risk assessment of genetically modified organisms and has been an advisor to the European Commission, Danish Parliament, and British government on the subject.
He says studies on a range of crop varieties show the opposite of what Bleakley is saying and that new genetic technologies are actually enabling the preservation of primitive varieties of crops.
"The argument that we are depleting genetic diversity in the sort of work we are doing is rubbish. We are actually creating and utilising more genetic diversity."
Regional Reporting and Surveillance
Indian Health Minister reports Assam bird flu due to migratory birds
12/1/08 New Kerala-- Migratory birds are behind the fresh outbreak of bird flu in Assam, Indian Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said Saturday, adding that culling operations had started in the northeastern state and 'inter-country bird movements are under close scrutiny'.
"Yes, we are concerned and this new outbreak is mainly due to migratory birds," Ramadoss told IANS.
"We are taking measures to control it, and let me assure that everything is under control. A team from the central health ministry has already gone to Assam and is helping authorities there," he added.
The minister said he has been keeping a close eye on the development and was closely monitoring the situation along with the animal husbandry department, which is under the central agricultural ministry.
He said all possible help would be provided to the state government in terms of human resource, medicine, masks and other preventive measures.
On Thursday, the outbreak of bird flu in Assam was confirmed after laboratory tests confirmed strains of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza. More than 300 birds died in the past week in Kamrup district of Assam.
"The culling operation has started and inter country bird movements are under close scrutiny," the minister said, adding that the bird flu outbreaks in the past had helped India "gain experience to handle such situation".
Asked about the frequent bird flu outbreaks in India, Ramadoss said: "Winter is a favourable period for the spread of bird flu. These migratory birds come southwards (to India) from other countries."
While saying that there is "no need to panic", he added that these "migratory bird movements cannot be stopped completely".
Meanwhile, authorities in Assam have culled over 12,000 of the estimated 60,000 birds to be killed.
The culling of ducks and chicken is being carried out in 48 villages within a 5 km radius of village Thakurchuba in Kamrup district, about 40 km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
About 20 Rapid Response Teams, each comprising about seven personnel including a veterinarian, are engaged in the culling that is expected to continue for about a week until the entire area is sanitized.
India has witnessed several outbreaks of bird flu earlier in states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and a few northeastern states.
India has been pointing fingers at Bangladesh and Thailand for the spread of the disease.
Pandemic Preparedness
Scientists plan ?Big Brother? flu experiment
12/1/08 Financial Times--British researchers plan to recruit 200 volunteers to be infected with flu while living together during week-long experiments, in order to deepen understanding of how to tackle a pandemic.
In a groundbreaking Big Brother-style trial, recruits will be divided into groups of half a dozen. They will spend their time sleeping, eating and socialising in specially adapted hotels under constant camera observation and medical supervision.
The aim is to gather information on how and how easily they contract flu from each other and the effectiveness of hand washing, face masks and keeping their distance to prevent infection.
Jonathan Van-Tam, professor of health protection at the University of Nottingham, who is helping develop the trials, said the studies reflected how much remains unknown about flu transmission, nearly two centuries after medical journals began discussing the issue.
?Transmission is poorly understood and hotly debated,? he said. Disagreement remained on such as whether flu was contracted by airborne particles or via surfaces touched by hand.
He is raising funds for the work, which expands research on infections? transmission carried out until 1989 by the government?s Common Cold Unit near Salisbury.
The Department of Health is believed to be among those considering support. While fear of a flu pandemic from the H5N1 strain has spurred large investments in preparation plans and the development and purchase of drugs and vaccines, many more fundamental questions about basic infection are still open and could affect a pandemic?s impact.
Professor John Oxford, a leading researcher on influenza, said he expected the ?challenge quarantine? studies to begin early next year through his company, Retroscreen Virology. He said they would use a mild variant of the H3N2 seasonal flu virus called A-Wisconsin tested in his laboratories, with a volunteer infected through the nose and subsequent observation to see how it spread to others.
He said volunteers would be paid about £3,000 ($4,592) each for a week-long trial.
Quid Novi
India: Avian flu-hit birds culled
12/1/08 The Hindu--Rapid Response teams on Saturday culled 10,000 poultry birds in a bird flu-affected area of Kamrup district. ? PTI
