To tighten up defenses against avian flu, the Council of Agriculture (COA) together with Changhua County -- the nation's most densely populated bird-breeding area -- yesterday held a drill to rehearse the government's emergency response measures in the event the deadly disease is found in Taiwan.
"Because we are the rest stop for birds migrating during the winter season, we should prepare for the worst using the best efforts possible," the council's Chairman Lee Chin-lung (李金龍) said.
Taiwan is among the few countries in Asia that hasn't experienced an outbreak of bird-flu. Countries that have include Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and South Korea. The disease primarily affects birds, but more than 60 people -- mostly Vietnamese living in close contact with chickens -- have also died. Scientists fear the disease could mutate into a form that can be transmitted between humans, which could cause a global pandemic killing millions.
Simulation
Participants in the drill simulated culling affected birds, burying or burning the culled birds, stemming the flow of poultry and meat smuggling, and protecting their own health, as well as the health of locally raised animals and poultry.
An emphasis was placed on protecting people on the front lines of the bird-flu battle.
A professor at the Animal Vaccination Research center of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Lien I-yang (
Close monitoring
Lee said the council has been keeping a close eye on avian flu since the discovery of an avian flu virus in the US in 1983. He assured consumers that "our birds are flu-free and imports from infected countries have been restricted."
Premier Frank Hsieh (
"The world thinks highly of our defenses in regard to the monitoring of the disease and treatment. We are one of the few countries that can produce the medication," Hsieh said.
Hsieh, however, added that Taiwan couldn't afford to be careless, especially after what happened with SARS. Hsieh said the public's cooperation was needed to fight the disease. Strict penalties will be handed out to those involved in the smuggling or illegal collection of birds, he added.
High spending
Meanwhile, Department of Health Minister Hou Sheng-mou (侯勝茂) yesterday said his department was planning to spend NT$20 billion (US$600 million) in combating bird flu. The ministry hopes that the effort will include producing mass quantities of drugs to fight the flu, based on the recipe for Tamiflu -- a drug whose patent is owned by the Swiss company Roche.
"As far as I know, Roche is willing to respond positively to the request filed by other countries to produce generic versions of Tamiflu," he said.
According to National Health Research Institute Director Su Yi-jen (
Su made the remarks during a meeting with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus members.
According to Su, the National Health Research Institute is capable of making samples that are 99.9 percent similar to Tamiflu. It would take only three to five months for the institute to manufacture doses sufficient for 1 million people.
Currently, the nation has enough of the drug for 160,000 people, and expects to see the number to rise to 780,000, which represents 4 percent of the total population. The recommended stockpile set by the World Health Organization is 10 percent.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Solidarity Union lawmakers yesterday said their party will request the legislature pass a resolution demanding that Roche license Taiwan to mass-produce Tamiflu.
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Editorial: Health politics and halting bird flu
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