IWCT
July 2005 NEWSLETTER - Part 1 |
Dear Friends,
EATING DOG MEAT IS HAZARDOUS.
THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL
MEAT INSPECTION BOARD (NMIB), WHICH IS AN OFFICIAL
DEPARTMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT, HAS
NOW MADE A STATEMENT ON THE DANGERS OF EATING DOG
MEAT. THIS WRITTEN STATEMENT IS BEING MADE AVAILABLE
TO ALL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS CONCERNED.
To the best of my knowledge this
is the very first time that any Philippine government
department has openly come out with a strong statement
against the dog traders and now accepts that there
is a strong public health risk to those that eat dog.
Please be assured that, armed with this, we will be
following this up with vigorous lobbying of other
relevant government officials.
This has happened as a direct
result of me, and other senior staff of AKF, having
a meeting some months ago with Directors of the NMIB.
At that time, when I brought this subject up, I was
told in no uncertain terms that eating dog was outside
their remit. I replied by saying “I don’t
believe I’m hearing what you are saying, you
must be responsible for any meat that is consumed
by the public, be it legal or illegal”. Some
time later they agreed with me.
This should be a huge step forward
for us. If the central government refuses to take
notice of their own agency they surely will be leaving
themselves open to mass criticism and we will be there
to make sure that this happens.
The statement being used by the
NMIB was written for us by Chris Laurence, QVRM TD,
BVSc, MRCVS, Chief Veterinary Officer of the UK based
Dog Trust. This document runs to several pages and
due to lack of space, we are unable to reproduce it
in full, but below are some of the highlights.
Food Poisoning |
The symptoms of food poisoning are vomiting
and diarrhoea. In more severe cases the toxins produced
by bacteria have secondary effects on other organ
systems such as liver, kidneys and heart and this
may result in death. The most common organisms are
Salmonella species, Campylobacter and some strains
of E Coli. Dogs are commonly affected by all these
organisms. However, as hygiene is understood to be
of a generally very low standard and some meat is
eaten raw, the risks of transmission must be very
high. There is also a Corona virus which produces
enteric symptoms in dogs. This is a potential cause
for concern as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
is also caused by a Corona virus.
Rabies |
Rabies is endemic in Asia and a significant
cause of death in humans and dogs. The usual manner
of transmission is by biting. However, in the terminal
stages of infection the virus is concentrated in the
brain. If such tissue is poorly cooked and comes into
contact with a break in the consumer’s skin,
the human is likely to contract the disease. It is
invariably fatal.
In May this year I had to go
into hospital for a heart bypass operation, which
prevented me from going to the Philippines in June.
However, Alan Whittaker, a Trustee of AKF who is also
very knowledgeable in animal welfare and a long-standing
personal friend of mine, undertook the trip for me
and below is his report on that trip. Happily I am
now well on the road to recovery and I will be back
in the Philippines throughout October.
By clicking on the link below
you can also read a web version of the most recent
newsletter sent out to our Philippine supporters by
our organisation Animal Kingdom Foundation Inc, through
which we work in the Philippines.
Yours sincerely,
Click
Here to read the second part of our July
2005 Newsletter ... IT'S A BLOODY BUSINESS.
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