The first stage of disease tracing showed that the African swine fever (ASF) outbreak has been contained at its initial site in Taichung’s Wuci District (梧棲), Deputy Minister of Agriculture Tu Wen-jane (杜文珍) said yesterday.
Tu told a news conference in Taichung held by the ASF Forward Command Center that the public can be “assured, but not relaxed.”
Meanwhile, Taichung Agriculture Bureau Director Chang Ching-chang (張敬昌) gave a timeline of the outbreak.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The city’s Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office received a report on Oct. 13 evening from a veterinary aide surnamed Wang (王), who worked with the affected farm, and officials were dispatched to the site the following day, he said.
The office’s veterinarian diagnosed the pigs with an actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae infection, but did not collect samples after hearing that the hog farmer, surnamed Chen (陳), had given medication to the animals that had nasal bleeding, Chang said.
The same veterinarian returned to the site on Monday last week to take samples, he said, adding that the pigs did not show typical symptoms of ASF, so sampling was not considered necessary.
Chen had not committed a regulatory violation by administering medication to his pigs after abnormal deaths without reporting the matter to the office veterinarian, Chang said.
Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) has also said that sampling would be required for pigs with bleeding symptoms.
A city government investigation found that Chen had called Wang for advice regarding his pigs, who provided instructions and medication.
However, Wang was only a veterinarian aide and was not authorized to prescribe medication, prompting authorities to take him in for questioning.
Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said that the farm had also failed to upload required videos or photographs showing kitchen waste being cooked properly before being fed to pigs.
The farm uploaded such data 24 times in May, eight times in June and once in July, but did not upload anything in August, Peng said.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) yesterday said that there are currently no penalties for such contraventions, and urged lawmakers to amend the law accordingly.
Environmental protection agencies are required to inspect pig farms once every two to three months to ensure the safety of feeding procedures, Environmental Management Administration Deputy Director-General Lin Tso-hsiang (林左祥) said.
If a farm fails to upload records, inspections should be increased to once every month, he said.
However, the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau only inspected the site in May and July, and did not visit in June or August, he added.
Bureau head Chen Hung-yi (陳宏益) said that it recorded 15 contraventions from the 37 pig farms in the city that use food waste as feed over the past two years.
In the 24 times the outbreak site was inspected over the past three years, there were no problems or any records of fines, he said, adding that the bureau had called the farm every month since June to demand the records.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
RSS