Chicken Consumers Shocked [Archives:2000/20/Health]

Many people in Yemen were shocked to know about a certain disease among chickens resulting from leakage of dioxin substance from some fodder factories in Belgium. Why did not Yemen know about it before it was informed officially by the Dutch Embassy in Saudi Arabia? What has Yemen done to protect Yemeni consumers? The report released on January 21, 2000 by a parliamentary committee set up to investigate the problem prompted us to make the following report:
Dioxin is a chemical substance found in the environment. Its negative effects can not be detected unless it exceeds a certain standard. The problem surfaced early in the 1999 as a result of a leakage of this substance from factories manufacturing fodder in Belgium. Dioxin remains, in all materials for a long time and it is difficult to get rid of it. When it leaks into soil and water, it directly gets into plants, animal fodder and human beings. Dioxin is a poisonous substance that affects land and can cause many diseases.
On May 5, 1999 the Belgian government informed the European Commission about pollution resulting from dioxin leakage into fodder factories. The European Commission’s response came on June 6, 1999 when it took a number of protective measures. Poultry’s production was stopped. This included all products related to cows, chickens, milk and its derivatives. On June 6, 1999 the European Commission met with the Belgium Veterinary Committee to outline a policy to protect consumers from nutrition pollution in the future. All the recommendations made by the European Commission were immediately implemented. All animal and poultry feeds were checked to make sure that they were free from any kind of pollution. In addition, other countries returned what they had imported from Belgium during the period from January 15, 1999 to June 1st, 1999 at the expense of Belgium. In Yemen shipments of such polluted material were said to be shipped back to the country of origin, Belgium.

How did Yemen know about it?
The problem is considered to be the first of its kind in the field of poultry in the third world, especially in Yemen. Due to the absence of research and study centers specialized in human and animal health, it was not that easy for Yemen to detect the disease. As far as Yemen is concerned, it knew about it from the Dutch Embassy in Saudi Arabia through a letter sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation on June 2,1999.

What about Newcastle?
Newcastle causes serious losses to poultry raisers. It can even destroy chickens thoroughly. This disease spread over Yemen recently due to the severe cold in winter. Chickens infected caused shortage in chicken supply in the market and that forced chicken farms owners to market underweight and young ones.
Although it is reported that this disease has no serious negative effect, it is still considered a disease whose symptoms will appear sooner or later. Poultry runners in Yemen must be necessarily aware of the importance of poultry vaccine.

Imports in Fodder concentrates
Chicken fodders are imported without any kind of control regarding its safety. The parliament report mentioned that 114 containers of chicken fodders arrived at Al-Hodeidah port without any documents certifying its safety. Tests carried out on some samples of these containers showed that fodder concentrates ratio was more than the standard. All fodder concentrates in poultry stores were eventually shipped back to the country of their origin. However, this report is not authentic. Authorities concerned have not commented on this. We asked Eng. Hassan Al-Foseil, director of animal wealth in the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation but he got upset when we asked about the dioxin and Newcastle. He said, however was that shipments were sent back to the country of their origin. It is worth mentioning that the parliamentary report came under severe criticism as lacking credibility. A number of MPs demanded that the government resign since it is unable to shoulder responsibility in such cases that have direct effect on its citizens.
The parliament committee made a number of recommendations in their report which are as follows:
1- The government must hold accountable all those who helped import of polluted fodder concentrates into the country.
2- It must make sure that they are shipped back to the country of the origin.
3- Shipments of consignment to Yemen must be provided with all necessary documents specifying certificate of origin, production and expiry dates, quantity, etc.
4- It must take steps to implement laws related to agricultural quarantine, seeds and nutrition monitoring.
5- It must control land, sea and air approaches.
6- It should manufacturing fodder in Yemen because all the raw materials needed are available in the country.
Ahmad Ahmad Al-Qaderi
Yahia Mohammed Nashwan

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