A friend shared a post shared by Alice Utlang on Facebook regarding the handling of African swine fever (ASF).
If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Utlang is or was the head of Cebu City’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF). I’m not sure if she still holds the post, but the fact remains that she is an animal doctor.
With that said, the post she shared came from Angel Antonio Manabat.
According to his designation, he is president of DVM, FPCSP. I have no idea what that is but I would presume it has something to do with veterinary medicine—hence, the VM—and the Philippine College of Swine Producers—hence, the PCSP—because the information he shared is the PCSP’s position “regarding ASF management and control on ASF vaccines.”
Let me share bits and pieces of Manabat’s post that Utlang shared that my friend subsequently shared.
“With the difficulty of government agencies to implement set ASF control programs, leading to failures in containing the disease and has now led to its probable endemic state in most parts of the country, PCSP supports the efforts of the government to evaluate, test and implement trials of ASF vaccine candidates. We demand that the necessary safety and efficacy trials are made to ensure that vaccines DO NOT lead to further complication of the existing ASF situation in the country. Transparency with regards to the nature of the vaccine and the results of the evaluation is expected from the government agencies involved.”
The PCSP still maintained that “total depopulation of affected farms or areas is still the most reliable control measure for ASF containment,” but it also conceded that although “the selective depopulation of farms and areas has been reported effective,” the success rate has been low “due to slow reaction time in terms of diagnosis, containment and disposal of animals.”
Hmm. I shouldn’t be reading between the lines because I’m sure Manabat and the PCSP mean well, and so does Utlang, but my radar for passive-aggressive behavior detects something. Also, there’s a hint of frustration with a mix of exasperation thrown in. My initial reaction to the PCSP statement was, well, not very good. That’s why I had to read it several times.
“Basa2x sad ug sabta,” Utlang wrote on her post.
But the fact remains that ASF-infected pigs are not harmful to humans and are safe for consumption. That’s why I think the National Government’s policy of culling all pigs within a 500-meter radius of an infected site is, well, overkill.
Let me put it this way.
Pigs with ASF will die anyway because that is the nature of the disease. And if the pigs survive, then it’s something else.
I think the culling policy should only apply to large-scale pig production, but not to the hundreds if not thousands of backyard hog-raisers in Cebu Province.
Then again, I’m not the president of DVM, FPCSP or a city veterinarian.