Mass cull unfeasible: Minister<\/p>\n
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The World Bank offer to finance a mass cull of poultry here in a
\nbid to halt the bird flu outbreak and reduce the number of human
\ninfections, has yet to get a positive response from the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
Instead, Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono said the
\ngovernment might not need to perform a mass cull, \"because it is
\nnot an effective way of rooting out the avian influenza virus.\"<\/p>\n
\"It is not true that a mass cull is the only way to prevent
\nthe (bird flu) outbreak. Our method in fighting the virus is on
\nthe right track and we only need to expand the scale,\" Anton
\nstated on Friday before attending a Cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n
He explained that a mass cull would cause serious social
\nunrest, since the government could not provide sufficient
\ncompensation for poultry farmers, who would lose profits.<\/p>\n
\"Many households in Indonesia have chickens that roam around
\nthe house freely. The social impact would be too huge to bear. A
\nmass cull is only effective in newly affected areas, not in areas
\nwhere it has already become endemic,\" divulged Anton, who
\nattended a bird flu conference in Geneva earlier this week.<\/p>\n
His ministry concedes that thoroughly destroying all birds
\nwithin a three-kilometer radius of an affected area is the best
\nway to combat the virus. However, even that selective type of
\ncull has never been implemented effectively because the ministry
\nconsiders it to be \"too expensive\", preferring instead to pay for
\nvaccines for the animals.<\/p>\n
Apparently responding to the government's reasoning that it
\ndoes not have enough money to compensate farmers, World Bank
\npresident Paul Wolfowitz offered President Susilo Bambang
\nYudhoyono last Saturday financial aid for a mass cull.<\/p>\n
Scientists warn that continued contact between infected birds
\nand humans may eventually result in the mutation of the virus,
\nsparking a deadly, worldwide flu pandemic, which, according to
\nthe World Health Organization, could kill millions of people.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia alone, five people have been confirmed as bird
\nflu fatalities over the past 10 months.<\/p>\n
At the Geneva conference, the agriculture ministry had said
\nthat it would need approximately US$130 million over the next two
\nyears to fight the outbreak, with only about $20 million
\nallocated from the state budget next year.<\/p>\n
During the conference, the United States, Germany and Japan
\nhave also pledged to grant at least $10 million to Indonesia in a
\nbid to encourage this government to beef up efforts to contain
\nthe outbreak.<\/p>\n
Anton emphasized that Indonesia had refused to seek overseas
\nfinancing in the form of loans, because the outbreak was an
\ninternational issue and the virus had not originated here.<\/p>\n
\"We are not reluctant to seek overseas financial aid. But we
\ndon't want the aid to be in the form of a debt, as it will burden
\nus in the future. Bird flu is a global issue and we want
\ncountries to give us grant money to contain it,\" he asserted.<\/p>\n
Anton added that the available funding was deemed sufficient
\nto locate new cases of bird flu, sterilize infected areas with
\ndisinfectant and conduct a selective cull, as well as to empower
\nregional husbandry agencies to impede the virus.<\/p>\n
The virus has killed at least 64 people in eastern Asia since
\nthe end of 2003 and was detected in eastern Europe last month.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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