Hog farms found using illegal vaccines would be punished under China’s intensified efforts to arrest its African swine fever crisis.
Homemade, experimental and imported vaccines against the pig-killing virus are prohibited and risk untold biosafety hazards for the world’s largest pork industry, Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department of Livestock Production Director-General Yang Zhenhai (楊振海) told reporters in Beijing yesterday.
“Farms that use these vaccines won’t be able to effectively prevent the disease and they could spread it further — something we take seriously,” Yang said.
The ministry would punish those who use, produce or sell such products, he said, adding that those found guilty could face fines of as much as 200,000 yuan (US$28,431).
A ministry hotline for citizens to report outbreak “irregularities” would offer cash rewards of 30,000 yuan.
The measures aim to halt the swine contagion, which Rabobank earlier this month estimated has caused China’s hog herd to more than halve to less than 200 million heads since the first case was reported in August last year.
Some domestic research institutes are conducting studies on vaccines, but these remain at the preclinical stage, while the safety of genetically modified organisms is evaluated, Yang said.
While none have been approved for field trials, the ministry is pushing for their development to ensure the production of safe, effective and high-quality immunizations, he added.
Unauthorized experimental vaccines have been used to immunize millions of hogs in China, creating “chaos” because of their varying levels of efficacy, Caixin reported last week.
PARLIAMENT CHAOS: Police forcibly removed Brazilian Deputy Glauber Braga after he called the legislation part of a ‘coup offensive’ and occupied the speaker’s chair Brazil’s lower house of Congress early yesterday approved a bill that could slash former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s prison sentence for plotting a coup, after efforts by a lawmaker to disrupt the proceedings sparked chaos in parliament. Bolsonaro has been serving a 27-year term since last month after his conviction for a scheme to stop Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking office after the 2022 election. Lawmakers had been discussing a bill that would significantly reduce sentences for several crimes, including attempting a coup d’etat — opening up the prospect that Bolsonaro, 70, could have his sentence cut to
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan’s northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate. A tsunami as high as three metres (10 feet) could hit Japan’s northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore at 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. Tsunami warnings were issued for the prefectures of Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate, and a tsunami of 40cm had been observed at Aomori’s Mutsu Ogawara and Hokkaido’s Urakawa ports before midnight, JMA said. The epicentre of the quake was 80 km (50 miles) off the coast of
RELAXED: After talks on Ukraine and trade, the French president met with students while his wife visited pandas, after the pair parted ways with their Chinese counterparts French President Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China yesterday in Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) a day earlier. Far from the imposing Great Hall of the People in Beijing where the two leaders held talks, Xi and China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), showed Macron and his wife Brigitte around the centuries-old Dujiangyan Dam, a World Heritage Site set against the mountainous landscape of Sichuan Province. Macron was told through an interpreter about the ancient irrigation system, which dates back to the third century
RSS