AVC lab stripped from OIE ‘ISA reference lab’ status; Unanimous vote by OIE World Assembly Delegates
Seafood Intelligence, by Bertand Charron, June 21, 2013
UPDATED @16.00: The Positive Aquaculture Awareness (PAA) organisation in British Columbia (BC) hailed last night [June 20, 2013] the ‘scoop’ via Twitter (@BCAquaculture) according to which: “As of today, the OIE has pulled its reference designation for Fred Kibenge’s lab at the Atlantic Veterinary College on Prince Edward Island, leaving Dr. Knut Falk’s lab at the National Veterinary Institute in Norway as the only OIE-designated reference lab in the world for Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA).”
PAA said the story was based on ‘reliable sources’ and on the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)’s edited webpage, which doesn’t show anymore Dr Kibenge’s lab as a reference lab for ISA. However, another OIE page was still listing Dr Kibenge as a reference lab.
Following our repeated enquiries at OIE headquarters in Paris, that latter ‘remaining’ OIE page was edited* on Friday (June 21) afternoon to remove any mention of Dr Kibenge’s lab; and the OIE told SeafoodIntelligence the following: “In May 2013 The World Assembly of national Delegates of the OIE (178 countries) approved by unanimity the delisting of the OIE Reference Laboratory for Infectious Salmon Anaemia located at Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC) in Canada on the basis of the results of the OIE audit conducted with independent experts from 31 July to 2 August 2012.”
