American Pork Producers Hit Out at Trade Bans

The American National Pork Producers are right in suggesting that meat exports are unlikely to be carry PRRS, part of the PRDC complex of diseases which include circovirus.

PRRS and associated disease probably do not travel in meat, still less to infect domestic livestock. The real cause has always been live movements, semen or embryos: germplasm.

The current obsession with the meat trade, as the culprit, started with the British circovirus, classical swine fever and, foot and mouth epidemics from 1999 to 2000.

The government veterinarians did not want to admit to allowing the import of infected live animals or germplasm (their responsibility) and decided to blame anything else they could invent, from the just possible to the completely ridiculous.

Imaginary illegally imported infected meat became an obsession wrongly transferring blame to British customs.  IIIIM, as a risk, pandered to the apparent interests of the British farmers who sought to restrict competition from meat imports. Half of the vets probably believed what they wanted to believe. Many made money from live imports, and exports especially of breeding stock.

Huge sums of taxpayer's money were used to bolster the fabrications and the veterinarians used seriously criminal activity to try to silence critics. Documents and tests were faked. Witnesses to Parliament and whistle-blowers were threatened.

Since, half the world misled by corruption in veterinary Britain, has slammed the wrong stable door, to the financial loss of many farmers with good safe produce.

It is in American commercial interests to demolish the British veterinary fabrications and doubtless the latest developments in DNA science will help trace the real routes of the "trade" in livestock diseases.

British veterinarians can expect a hostile investigation into past epidemics in Britain coming from the USA. The writer is delighted to help them. Animal epidemics, some with human health implications, are against all our interests.

The full report in the National Hog Farmer is here


NPPC Calls for Lifting of Unscientific Trade Barriers
Nov. 19, 2012 9:53am

Nick Giordano, vice president and counsel for International Affairs for the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), recently traveled to Australia and New Zealand to meet with United States and foreign government officials and industry representatives to discuss restrictions on U.S. pork due to  unscientific concerns for the transmission of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS)...

...The legal importation of fresh, chilled and frozen pork from PRRS-endemic countries never has resulted in any outbreak of PRRS in countries that are known to be PRRS-free.

NPPC said New Zealand and Australia should remove all PRRS-related restrictions for full and open access for U.S. pork and pork products as a part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.