Merial, the company implicated in the investigation into the FMD outbreak in Surrey, has released a series of press statements informing the media about the latest situation. Here you can read the latest statements issued to Animal Pharm.
8 Aug 2007 at 14.45
As at the time of this release, the DEFRA investigators have advised that they have no evidence linking this member of staff to the outbreak. The intense media speculation around this individual and the media encampment at their home are both unhelpful and distracting from Merial’s efforts to support DEFRA in their investigations to control, contain and eradicate this infection. We fully support the investigation and will continue to co-operate and provide complete access to our centre to enable these investigations to continue. Over the last three and a half days we have conducted intensive internal investigations and, as a result, continue to have complete confidence in our processes and procedures for health, safety and environmental protection, quality control, quality assurance and regulatory compliance. To date, we have not been able to establish any evidence that the virus may have been transported out of our centre by humans.
We share the views that the risk of airborne transmission is negligible however, we do have a point of clarification to make regarding the references made to the role water may have played in this outbreak. There is a suggestion that waste water released to the environment by Merial may have been a possible cause of the outbreak. We wish to clarify that Merial does not release water from the shared Pirbright site. We ensure that the water we use in our virus production is treated, we then transfer it to the IAH who treat it further and release it. Everyone involved in this investigation understands that this report is part of an ongoing process and that the outbreak is causing farmers hardship. We are committed to playing our role in establishing the cause and, like everyone else, want to ensure that lessons are learned, that measures are taken to control, contain and eradicate this outbreak as quickly as possible and, that future outbreaks are prevented. Merial will temporarily recommence production of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine at its Pirbright centre. This is in specific response to DEFRA's order for 300,000 doses of strain specific vaccine only. Merial’s voluntary decision to suspend all production at its Pirbright centre remains in place for all other activities. Permanent production at Pirbright will not recommence without full consultation with DEFRA and we are constantly reviewing this decision with them. Merial continues to co-operate fully with the Government inspection teams following the outbreak of FMD in the Surrey area. 6 August 2007 at 11.10, by email
Merial is fully aware that an outbreak of FMD has occurred on a farm in the South of England. David Biland Managing Director of Merial in the UK has stated that Merial will co-operate fully with the UK government to determine the source of the disease and will fully support DEFRA scientists in bringing this outbreak to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion. 6 August 2007 at 07.00 5 August 2007 We at Merial welcome the arrival of the independent investigation team to our centre here at Pirbright. This centre operates to the very highest international standards and we insist on stringent adherence to processes and procedures for health, safety and environmental protection, quality control, quality assurance and regulatory compliance. We have been operating from this site for fifteen years and, during that time have produced hundreds of millions of vaccine doses. In all that time, we have never had a breach in our bio-security. There has been and continues to be intense speculation regarding the possible causes of this outbreak. While we at Merial have complete confidence in the integrity of our bio-security, and our initial investigation shows no breach in our procedures, it is really too early in this investigation for anyone to determine the cause of the outbreak. Our focus over the last 36 hours has been to co-operate fully with the Government and its investigation teams. We have been meeting with representatives from DEFRA, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) and the IAH and have supplied them with detailed information regarding our operations, so that every possible source of this infection can be thoroughly investigated. To support these investigations, last night we voluntary suspended viral production at this centre. At Merial we are committed to continuing to work with DEFRA and to playing our part in helping to contain, control and eradicate this outbreak as quickly as possible. I assure you that we will take all action necessary to help the authorities to achieve this. We have served the farming community for over fifty years and welcome the speed and efficiency of the Government’s response to this outbreak and, as I said before will continue to do everything we can to support them in their investigations. There is intense speculation regarding the possible sources of this outbreak. While Merial has complete confidence in the integrity of our bio-security, and our initial investigation shows no breach in our procedures, it is too early in the investigation for anyone to determine the source of the outbreak. Over the last 24 hours we have met with representatives from DEFRA, Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), and the IAH and have supplied them with detailed information regarding our operations so that every possible source of this infection can be thoroughly investigated. To support these investigations, last night we voluntary suspended viral production at our centre. We are committed to working with DEFRA and to playing our part in helping to contain and control the outbreak as quickly as possible and will take all action necessary to help the authorities to achieve this. In consultation with DEFRA Merial has suspended virus production at its vaccine centre at Pirbright. Merial is working closely with DEFRA to carry out a thorough investigation into all possible sources of this outbreak and contain it as soon as possible. As a leading global company, Merial is committed to the highest international standards of product quality and safety at its manufacturing sites world-wide. This means compliance with standards and cooperative relationships with regulatory authorities in the markets where we operate. At every stage of the production process, we insist on stringent adherence to processes and procedures for health, safety and environmental protection, quality control, quality assurance and regulatory compliance. A large number of specialists ensure that the company meets both technical and regulatory requirements. Industrial Operations is supported by more than 1700 employees, including chemists, biologists, pharmacists, veterinarians, quality control and assurance technicians, engineers, logistics and production staff. David Biland, Managing Director of Merial in the UK says, ‘Merial will co-operate fully with the UK government to determine the source of the disease, and will fully support DEFRA scientists in bringing this outbreak to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion.’
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