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Challenging Quarantine ……Again

Voluntary EI vaccination – you have to be joking!

In late March the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke, announced his support to allow selective EI vaccination for Australia’s racehorses against widespread advice from veterinarians and other experts that such a policy is ill-advised.

I am about to go through some of the facts, figures and misconceptions that go with EI but firstly let me very quickly give you (A) my take on why Tony Burke has done this, (B) why the thoroughbred industry is angling for this to happen and (C) why it is just plain stupid.

(A) At first glance it certainly looks like yet another Federal Minister for Agriculture is going to become a puppet for the Thoroughbred Breeders Australia (TBA) and Thoroughbred Racing Industry (TRI). Remember the former Federal Minister for Agriculture, Mr Peter McGauran, did look after the thoroughbred industry handsomely in 2007 during the EI outbreak and then immediately resigned his ministerial post and took up his current position of CEO of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia. Funny that! Tony Burke following closely in Mr McGauran’s footsteps is a cynic’s viewpoint. But maybe we are doing Tony Burke a disservice. Tony Burke has been trying to get government support for an industry levy. This is called an Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA). This levy needs to be agreed to by all the of the peak industry bodies. Thoroughbreds, harness-racing, Equestrian Australia, Australian Stock Horse Association, breed societies, Pony Club Australia, etc, etc, etc. This EADRA is common to all livestock industries in Australia and is used to pay for eradication of exotic diseases. Exactly what EI is. The problem of course is that we do not want our pony club kids to be contributing to this fund in equal amounts to members of Thoroughbred Breeders Australia who are basically falling over themselves making millions and quite often prepared to risk introducing exotic diseases in their haste as was clearly demonstrated by EI in 2007 being introduced by Snitzel who was urgently needed in Australia for stud duties and earning his owner enormous amounts of money. You do realise that Pony Club Australia is one of our biggest youth movements and is primarily a volunteer organization and represents absolutely no risk in terms of introducing EI into Australia. So developing an “equitable levy contribution” to an EADRA facility is going to be a nightmare…..but realistically it is essential. This facility was recently blocked by the Senate due to lots of our horse industry bodies, like Pony Club Australia, screaming out that it is unfair that they be burdened by equal levies or perhaps any levies which should perhaps be bourn by other bodies like TBA. Fair enough. Personally I am hoping that Tony Burke is tearing his hair out because of the recent blocking by the Senate of the implementation of a compulsory industry levy or as explained earlier the EADRA. I think when you look at the facts voluntary vaccination in an EI free country is plain suicide and is in actual fact going to cost all of us much more that contributing to the EADRA. I will spell costings out a little later but it just may be that Tony Burke has made a brilliant politicians move and brought into focus for everyone that we do need to come together on this one and support the implementation of the EADRA.

(B) Why is the Thoroughbred industry so keen on “voluntary” vaccinations?  The thoroughbred lobby basically suggests to the casual observer that if their horses are vaccinated then their industry will continue to function if EI should by per chance manage to enter Australia again. Sounds good. A few flaws though and actually some very sinister later developments. EI is an abbreviation for Equine Influenza. Very similar to flu in humans. You know you can have a flu jab yourself. Problem is it is very clearly documented that this will not stop you from getting the flu. Same in the horses. It is possible however to have a much milder version than you would otherwise have had. Flu is notorious for continually changing or mutating so every year there are new strains and new vaccines have to be continually developed and are continually almost instantly antiquated. So is life. Some of these flu’s cause very little harm but last year we did see the introduction of swine flu which did actually kill quite a few people and of cause there is the bird flu which will basically just kill you. So voluntary vaccination of the racehorses or thoroughbred shuttle stallions or breeding mares absolutely will not stop this population from contracting EI. Did you know the horse that introduced EI into Australia in 2007, Snitzel, came in from Japan and was fully vaccinated? This is reality, vaccinated horses are sometimes difficult to recognise as being infected with the flu but are in actual fact sick and more than able to spread it to everyone else, vaccinated or not. A horse that is not vaccinated is very easy to detect. I think the thoroughbred people are saying that if EI came into Australia then their industry would continue to function in terms of mares being sent to stallions and horses racing. I think in actual fact this will not happen and all vaccinated horses will also be locked down if EI were re-introduced. The TBA’s logic appears to be at odds with reality in this important respect. Dr Hugh Miller, Chief Veterinary Officer for Victoria is in no doubt that this lock-down policy would include the vaccinated horses if there were another EI outbreak. So do you think the TBA or the TRI are just stupid and don’t understand this? I don’t think so. So what is going on? Historically a country that re-introduces EI does not eradicate a second time. Vaccinated horses in the country pretty well makes it impossible to find the infected horses, back-tracking to the source impossible and EI becomes endemic. Japan had been struggling to back-track and source the EI infection in that country for the 12-months prior to Snitzel leaving Japan and introducing EI to Australia. It proved to be impossible. So what are the advantages to the Thoroughbred Industry of making EI endemic in Australia? Well there are actually some very serious likely scenarios. Probably the most startling advantage for the thoroughbreds is that once EI is endemic in Australia there is a very strong case that quarantine time periods can be seriously reduced. Most other exotic diseases can be combated and controlled with inoculations. EI cannot and hence our extended quarantine periods before allowing horses to travel freely in the country. Whilst ever Australian quarantine procedures pre-export (PEQ) and post-arrival (PAQ) are observed EI cannot enter the country. This of course does raise the very difficult question, were pre-export procedures properly observed with the importation of the thoroughbred stallion Snitzel? Anyway we are getting side-tracked here; if these quarantine periods were reduced it would impact on the thoroughbred breeding industry in terms of millions and millions of extra dollars being made. At the high end of the thoroughbred breeding industry some stallions will earn $1 million dollars per day.  When you understand that currently the time period required is something like 21days PEQ and 21days PAQ if you are non-racing and hey hey hey if you are a racehorse you only spend 14 days PEQ and guess what 14 days PAQ. So that is 14 days in the USA before coming out and 14 days in a quarantine station in Australia before being released. Pretty funny when you understand that the thoroughbred industry was wholly and soley responsible for inflicting EI on Australia and yet they are required to do even less quarantine than the rest of us! I told you it was sinister and that part is actually legal and endorsed by federal ministers! So much for the average Australian. The thoroughbred industry had prior to 2007 been very pro-active in trying to reduce their already reduced quarantine periods. Went a little quiet on this front when they realised they had just infected all of Australia with EI but they are back at it now! They actually have a history of targeting this aspect of Australia. With the introduction of endemic EI there is no doubt that these quarantine periods will be obsolete and this will immediately impact on the ability of the stallions to increase their revenue by millions and millions for their respective owners. Now that is sinister and when you realise that the thoroughbred industry accounts for less than 10% of the Australian horse population, then this is a very clear illustration of one rule for the rich and very little consideration for the good old Aussie equestrian enthusiast who is in the industry for passion. Anyway, historically the thoroughbred industry is very interested in reducing the period of time involved in quarantining horses coming into Australia; this period of time is primarily in place to protect all of Australia from EI. If EI were endemic the thoroughbred industry would be much more likely to achieve a project (reduced quarantine time) they have been working on for a very long time and voluntary EI vaccinations make the introduction and spread of EI in Australia much more likely.

 (C) Why it is just plain stupid?  

• If we don’t have EI in Australia why should we vaccinate against it.
• Overseas horses which are vaccinated still contract and spread EI.
• Vaccination makes EI almost impossible to detect quickly and so will mask EI if it is introduced.
• Implementing an EI vaccinating program in Australia will end up costing all Australians considerably more than just maintaining our current quarantine regulations. This is documented in the Beale Review released in December 2008 but not yet released to the general public. This report needs to be released.
• Clearly the Beale Review horrified certain pro-vaccination supporters. (quote from Bill Saunders 24^th March 2010 – http://formguide.cyberhorse.com.au/index.php/2010032442261/Industry/ei-policy-creates-divisions/Print.html)
• In January this year a further report was produced by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics setting out a further scenario which would see only thoroughbreds and standardbreds and a few performance horses vaccinated at a cost to horse owners of between $350-$600 million over twenty years. (quote from Bill Saunders 24^th March 2010 – http://formguide.cyberhorse.com.au/index.php/2010032442261/Industry/ei-policy-creates-divisions/Print.html)  
• Unlike the Beale Review, no input was sought from Australian Horse industry participants other than the thoroughbred sector.
• The Beale Review has been kept somewhat secret.
• Once EI is in Australia both vaccinated and unvaccinated horses will contract the virus and will need veterinary attention and as a consequence owners will also incur these expenses.
• Living in a country without EI saves all of us an enormous amount of money in vaccination costs, vet fees, horse passport administration, and the added administration needed at all show and functions to check passports.
• Overseas “paper vaccinations” occur often enough in the thoroughbred industry. Queensland University Professor Dr David Pascoe explained that EI vaccinations can seriously affect the performance of a racehorse so trainers in England will sometimes ask a vet to sign a horse’s papers saying that a horse has been vaccinated when it hasn’t, especially prior to a big event.
• In the report of the Callinan Inquiry (http://www.equineinfluenzainquiry.gov.au/eiiexhibits/REP.0001.001.0001.pdf ) it was also found that veterinarians had been under pressure and had signed EI paperwork prior to undertaking the task in question.
• Since EI is difficult to recognise in a vaccinated horse, people will continue to ride and compete these horses whilst in actual fact they are sick. Dr Pascoe calls this the “pancake effect” and horses are then likely to take 6-months before returning to full health if ever!
• The cheapest and best method of preventing EI getting into Australia again is good quarantine.
• The State and Federal Agricultural ministers are meeting in April to decide the future policy of EI control.
• Cathie Drury-Klein is advocating that as many people as possible contact their respective parliamentarians and she has actually drafted out a very good letter to Minister Burke and another to your member of parliament. Cathie can be contacted at cathiedk@bigpond.com  These templates are available to anyone who is interested.

Well there you go, that’s it for this month.

Cheers,

Heath