Chiu Chui-chang (邱垂章), who takes over the reins at the Council of Agriculture’s Animal Health Research Institute (AHRI) today, has been accused of failing to report the spread of an avian flu virus when he was head of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine’s (BAPHIQ) Keelung branch.
Chiu either failed to report to authorities the spread of H5N3 avian influenza in 2009 before an outbreak of the strain in 2013 or fabricated research, filmmaker Kevin Lee (李惠仁) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday, citing a paper that Chiu published in 2009 on an experiment he conducted using a strain of the H5N3 virus, which he claimed to have found at a chicken farm in Taiwan.
The paper, titled “Mucoadhesive liposomes for intranasal immunization with an avian influenza virus vaccine in chickens,” was published in Biomaterials in July 2009, but the Council of Agriculture’s records show that the virus was not found in Taiwan until 2013, the New Power Party (NPP) said in a statement, adding that the matter had been brought to its attention by an informant who had originally agreed to attend the news conference.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The research paper later evolved into Chiu’s doctoral thesis, which he completed in 2011 while serving as head of the Keelung branch, Lee said.
“The thesis says the virus was obtained from the AHRI, but its records show that the virus was not provided to either Chiu or Taipei Medical University [where he was studying]. Given that he was already head of BAPHIQ’s Keelung branch at the time, it raises serious questions if he cannot explain where the virus came from,” Lee added.
The allegation concerns Chiu’s integrity and whether he is qualified to serve as head of the AHRI, NPP Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal said.
“Has Chiu committed academic misconduct? The council has denied providing him with H5N3 virus strains, so where did he obtain the virus? At which lab did he conduct the experiment? Did he fail to report the spreading of the virus to authorities? Or did he fabricate the research? These are questions we want Chiu to answer,” she said.
In a statement issued hours after the news conference, Chiu denied all allegations of academic misconduct and failing to report the virus.
The research used an inactivated H5N3 virus provided by the AHRI, as described in the paper’s published abstract, he said.
The sentence in the paper that says the virus came from a chicken farm is an error and the journal would be asked to correct it, he added.
Some people have chosen to spread lies about him on the eve of his promotion as AHRI head, he said, adding that he reserves the right to press charges.
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