ACTA VET. BRNO 2006, 75, 3: 465-467
Book Review
Terrestrial Animal Health Code 2005. Fourteenth
Edition, Office International of Epizootics,
The structure of the Code is the same as of the previous issue reviewed in Acta Veterinaria Brno, 2005, 74 (1):161-163. All the comments are valid also for the new issue 2005. It continues to apply the antisanitary policy based on the fraudulent principle ”Import risk analysis is preferable to a zero risk approach” supporting openly the export of non-healthy animals and non-pathogen-free animal products. The Code, including three hundred pages of annexes, has been consistently avoiding everything that would demand from exporting countries a full sanitary quality, e.g. no one word on the most important conditions for avoiding spread of all pathogens’ through international trade.
Veterinary import
conditions for meat, meat products, eggs, milk, milk products and other
products of animal origin, representing more than a half value of international
animal trade, have been systematically missing. These products represent the
most important factors of invisible pathogen spreading. The import conditions
protecting against food-borne diseases are missing as well, and thus
consciously the door open for their mass and daily international and
post-import countrywide spread due to speedy distribution, as irreparable
disastrous consequences of the extremely holey Code. This “policy” is
reflecting minimal or zero etiological investigations of animal products in
exporting countries interested in “smooth trade” (no investigations = no
pathogen discovery = easy export,
regardless of the pathogens). The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point
(HACCP) avoiding the
contamination only does not
bloc streams of pathogens initiated at animal farms.
The Code is characterized by several historically unique features unimaginable in any other international trade standard. The Code is unilaterally favours the exporting countries that do not respect the interests of importing countries in consequent protection of animal and human health. The Code does not admit that importing countries should demand full sanitary quality of animal commodities and the guarantee for them; on the contrary, it imposes the duty to accept non-healthy animals and non-pathogen-free food of animal origin. Exceptionally, the importing country can require healthy animals or pathogen-free food only if this is “scientifically justified” in writing to convince the exporting country (if this perverted logic would be applied e.g. on motor cars, then the importing country could not require fully functioning cars without written “scientific justification” !?). Instability of this Code is reflected in publishing every year a new issue with many amendments without marking their emplacements. Relatively easy and unpunished export of diseases, thanks to the Code, has lead to a stop of almost all disease eradication programmes in exporting countries due to the loss of any economic motivation.
In the chapter “Certification procedures” the most important provision for guaranteeing full independence on producers and exporters of veterinary attests issuing persons is missing as well as provision for consistent government supervision on them; they can confirm what they wish without any legal responsibility. The lack of effective control becomes a breeding ground for corruption and thus disease export. This can be documented by now incalculable thousands of disease export cases in spite of having “OIE international veterinary certificates”. These have only information value and do not guarantee animal health or pathogen-free status. In some exporting countries almost all private practitioners as “accredited veterinarians” (often without special training and exams) have government rubber stamp for “official” international veterinary certificates.
The chapter “Evaluation of veterinary services”, overfull of details having nothing to do with international trade, reflects the Code concept to avoid any duty of exporting countries to guarantee full sanitary quality of animals and their products. One cannot find a single word on the most important criteria for international trade such the of real occurrence of diseases, control/eradication results, active surveys, average size of animal populations and trade per one public service veterinarian, etc. in the exporting countries. The Code does not respect the difference of dependency on producers and exporters, and it consciously does not distinguish between government service and difficult-to-control private service. The reason is that the major exporting countries have often very weak government services unable to control effectively the disease situation, to monitor exported commodities and to issue international veterinary attests themselves. Following the World Bank policy, the Code has been degrading the role of government services that are, in fact,, the only organizations qualified to initiate and organise nationwide animal disease control, eradication and surveillance.
The chapter on risk
assessment, containing absurd and unrealistic procedure in international trade
practice, is deliberately omitting the main factor such as disease situation in
the exporting countries. The chapter abuses the risk evaluation to “facilitate
trade” at the expense of human and animal health in importing countries. This
is similar to the World Trade Organization (WTO) “Agreement on the Application
of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures “, a “work” of
The Code provisions are often not the result of scientific risk assessment, as repeatedly demanded from the importing countries. The case of paratuberculosis can serve as an example: The above-mentioned country declared in 2004 that this disease was not more a hazard; as a follow-up the Code specific protective import conditions disappeared and the whole page entitled “Paratuberculosis” was left empty (something unknown in international standards). One cannot believe that the delegates of all member countries accepted willingly this “no-condition” opening “officially” the way for mass global spreading of paratuberculosis. This example documents that the Code has nothing to do with real protection of health and that the importing countries have not a slightest chance against a small group of the most influential exporting countries. These dominate the OIE and abuse it for their unscrupulous egoistic interests and damage in a irreparable manner both animal and human health in the world but also the reputation of veterinary medicine. The OIE, after becoming a WTO “affiliated branch” filial in 1995 seems to readily service to business instead of health, ignoring the basic principle of medicine – Primum non nocere!
The OIE itself, in spite
of repeatedly calling for “convincing scientific risk assessment” to be
elaborated by the importing countries, has never carried out and presented to
member country governments any analysis of the practical impact of the Code on
disease spreading through international trade. The OIE even abolished the useful
information system including disease import, obviously due to the fear to disclose
the truth that it has been converted into an organization that consciously supports
international spreading of the vast majority of communicable diseases,
including almost all zoonoses. The previous very useful Code has been
converted, thanks to irresponsible trickery with the “risk assessment”
replacing original zero risk concept, into the most
dangerous international document for animal health in the history of veterinary
medicine.
More information is available at www.cbox.cz/vaclavkouba/oiecode.htm.
Prof. MVDr Václav K o u b a ,
DrSc.