The Avian Politicians

The explosion of the bird flu cases in the past days has raised many questions for the ones that were trying to find a clear answer in this governmental mess: how was it possible for the virus to spread from the centre of Romania, from only one locality?

There has been a relatively coherent spread of the virus in the previous cases, which showed the itinerary of the migrating birds that brought H5N1 in Romania.

SPREAD

This time, there have been tens of cases in the middle of the country. The virus "covered" quickly everything on a surface of approximately 200 km around the bird farms in Brasov. Should we have expected a flight of infected migrating birds to get directly to Codlea, where tens of them would have died, and, then, have started another circular trip in the counties nearby? That’s highly unlikely.

The authorities couldn’t handle the hysteria. The media was trying to inform the people about the spreading of H5N1 in our country. We could only see some sanitarian-veterinarian measures, but the explosion continued. Vrancea, Covasna, Sibiu, Alba, Valcea, and Prahova, all came quickly after Brasov. The disease was spreading in concentric circles. Hundreds of people and legal bodies have bought living birds from the farms in Codlea, without knowing they were spreading the virus in seven counties. The ignorance of the authorities, the suspect imports, the criminal accessory of the owners of the farms, the breaking of the elementary rules by the vets hired by Drakom and Pati Prod, they have all contributed to the present disaster.

THE IMPORTS WERE A KNOWN FACT

Some journalists had found out that the origin of the virus could be certain imports. Dependable sources have confirmed this hypothesis, and the investigation of our newspaper led us to the conclusion that the government is trying to hush up and to hide the information regarding the imports. President Traian Basescu found out about this information. The PM’s intention was obvious. The National Sanitarian Veterinarian Agency (ANSV) is an institution subordinated to the Government, therefore subordinated to the Prime Minister. The political responsibility for the avian mess is clearly the one of Tariceanu. He tried to hush it all up by dismissing the ANSV boss and accusing him of "criminal negligence".

THE SRI INTERVENTION

When he saw the intentions of certain members of the Government, the President asked SRI (the Romanian Information Service) to intervene. This is how the information regarding the imports from Hungary and Slovakia got to paper in the first place. On Friday, the 19th of May, SRI made a report note regarding the imports of living birds. According to the laws, SRI does not bring proofs, but only information. The proofs should have appeared due to a supplementary investigation of the Government at the National Customs’ Agency (ANV), at ANSV and at other institutions.

MANEUVER

However, Tariceanu was putting on the Governmental system once again by saying "SRI didn’t show any proofs in its report". The PM is creating a diversion with such a maneuver. H suggests to the people that SRI is the one responsible for gathering the proofs from everyone, including the chicken exporters. If the SRI information is not confirmed, there will have to be a public explanation from Radu Timofte (the Head of SRI). Until then, the bird flu continues to spread in the entire country. However, the Prime Minister sits calmly in his chair at the Victoria Palace. He doesn’t name a new chief for ANSV and he doesn’t see the fight against the bird flu as a priority.

MINISTER FLUTUR: "THE CONTAMINATION TOOK PLACE IN ROMANIA!"

The Minister of Agriculture, Gheorghe Flutur, fits the stereotype of his boss, Prime Minister Tariceanu. He refused commenting upon the SRI report regarding the origin of the bird flu virus, because the Police and the Prosecutor’s Office are investigating the imports from Hungary and Slovakia as well as the Romanian farms. "Like Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu previously stated, there are not enough clues saying the virus came from another country but we don’t deny it either", Flutur stated. He wants ANSV to ask for information regarding the health of the imported birds from the veterinarian services in Slovakia and Hungary. However, Gabriel Predoi, ANSV general director, has said that, given the incubation period of the avian flu, which "gets to 10 days at most", and the fact that the birds in Codlea died after 30 days, "the contamination took place in Romania".

Translated by Sorin Balan