Lab delisted because test results were questionable
Letter: Times Colonist, July 10, 2013
Re: “Maritime lab’s delisting puts chill on salmon virus,” July 9.
I would like to explain the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s role in the decision to delist the Atlantic Veterinary College as a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reference laboratory.
In Canada, infectious salmon anemia is a federally reportable disease. This means that all suspected cases must be immediately reported to the CFIA for follow-up investigation and testing. In late 2011, the former OIE reference laboratory at the AVC reportedly found evidence of ISA.
Because any suspected cases of ISA must be confirmed at a designated federal laboratory, the National Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory, overseen by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, conducted testing of fish samples. The positive test results reported by the AVC were not corroborated by the DFO laboratory.
Due to the differences observed in these test results, the CFIA conducted evaluations of both laboratories to assess their capability to reliably detect the ISA virus in accordance with accepted scientific standards. The evaluation conducted at the AVC identified concerns, which may have led to the questionable ISA test results. This information was shared with the OIE.
The OIE designates reference laboratory status based on a laboratory’s ability to maintain the highest technical and operational standards. The OIE undertook an independent audit of the AVC after another OIE member country also reported issues related to ISA test results from this laboratory. The OIE audit, performed by an international panel of scientific experts, found a series of weaknesses affecting the quality of diagnoses performed at the AVC laboratory. The decision to delist this laboratory as an OIE reference laboratory was approved unanimously by the World Assembly of Delegates of the OIE in May 2013.
The CFIA is committed to protecting the health of wild and farmed fish, and takes reports of ISA seriously. On the east coast of Canada, the CFIA has confirmed the presence of ISA and has responded by taking regulatory action to control this disease. The CFIA publicly posts reports on all federally reportable diseases including ISA on a monthly basis.
As part of the CFIA’s multi-year wild salmon disease surveillance initiative in British Columbia, 4,175 wild-salmon samples were collected directly from B.C. waters, processing plants and enhancement hatcheries in 2012. All of the samples have tested negative for ISA.
This surveillance initiative is led by the CFIA in partnership with many organizations, including DFO, the Province of British Columbia, First Nations groups, the aquaculture industry and the fishing and processing industry.
All sampling, testing and response activities associated with this surveillance initiative are based on internationally recognized science. They are also consistent with international guidelines and national aquatic animal health requirements. A full report of the surveillance initiative is available through the CFIA website.
By the end of 2013, this surveillance program is expected to collect an additional 5,000 samples for testing. The CFIA is also finalizing its approach to evaluate ongoing farmed salmon testing activities in BC. The CFIA expects to begin the collection and testing of farmed Atlantic and Pacific salmon this fall.
Additional information on this surveillance initiative and CFIA National Aquatic Animal Health Program, are available on the Agency’s website at www.inspection.gc.ca/aquatic.
Dr. Primal Silva
Executive Director
Animal Health Science Directorate
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Here is the article CFIA responded to:
Scientists concerned over chill in reporting of salmon virus after lab delisted
Alison Auld / The Canadian Press, July 7, 2013
Scientists fear there could be a reluctance to report a deadly fish virus after the first lab in Canada to say it was detected in British Columbia salmon was stripped of a special reference status by an international agency.
Marine researchers say they were stunned to hear that the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE, recently suspended the reference status from a research laboratory at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island.
Run by Fred Kibenge, who is considered one of the world's leading authorities on infectious salmon anemia, it was one of only two labs in the world recognized by the group for the testing of the virus.
Kibenge's work came under scrutiny in 2011 after he said he found evidence of the virulent disease in wild B.C. sockeye salmon, challenging the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's position that the virus is not present in the province.
His findings led the inspection agency to conduct an audit and send their findings to the OIE, which did its own audit and announced last month that it was delisting Kibenge's lab in a move that some say could discourage reporting of infectious salmon anemia.
"This is creating a very chilly environment for people to investigate the presence of this virus in the Pacific Ocean," said Rick Routledge, a professor at Simon Fraser University who gave Kibenge the salmon samples that tested positive.
"It's a very distressing situation."
Routledge, who has studied juvenile sockeye salmon migrations for 10 years in B.C., said he wanted to understand why the population was declining and used Kibenge's lab to examine possible causes.
The findings caused the Cohen Commission, a federal inquiry looking into the decline of sockeye salmon in B.C., to extend its hearings so Kibenge and others could testify about the possible presence of the virus.
Other labs said they recorded positive test results, but some were later deemed to be false positives.
The influenza-type virus devastated farmed salmon stocks in Chile in 2007 and has been found in salmon aquaculture operations in Atlantic Canada, leading to culls and quarantines. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it can kill up to 90 per cent of infected salmon, but does not pose a risk to human health.
Critics have said the federal agency went after Kibenge's lab to suppress the findings and protect B.C.'s lucrative salmon export market, which could be hit with trade restrictions if the virus is detected.
A spokeswoman with the CFIA declined an interview request but said in an email that it was obligated to confirm the test results at another lab, which did not corroborate Kibenge's results and led to the two audits.
"The evaluation ... identified concerns, which may have led to the questionable ISA test results," said Elena Koutsavakis, without elaborating on the concerns.
"The OIE audit, performed by an international panel of scientific experts, found a series of weaknesses affecting the quality of diagnoses performed at the Atlantic Veterinary College laboratory."
An official with the college said Kibenge did not want to comment, but the school's dean said he didn't see the CFIA's actions as punitive and that he would comply with it.
Don Reynolds said he thought Kibenge ran his lab appropriately and will continue to test for the virus. But, he concedes that it's not clear how the loss of status will affect the school.
"Our reputation is not just based on one situation, so I think time will tell," he said. "We'll just let that play out."
Bernard Vallat, director general at the OIE in Paris, dismissed claims that the organization was pressured by Canadian officials to find fault with Kibenge's work and strip the lab of the status.
Vallat said it was delisted because of "inadequate features" regarding methodology that he would not elaborate on because they have not been made public.
"I understand there is a lot of controversy, but our experts are independent, they are trusted by all our members and they did their job," he said. "So from my point of view, we did not use politics to do that."
Alexandra Morton, a fish researcher and activist in B.C., has no doubt the virus is in the province but says the CFIA is not doing proper testing to detect it.
She says other labs have found evidence of the virus in farmed fish, which are penned in areas along the migration route of wild salmon — raising concerns that it could spread among the wild fish.
"The experiment is underway in British Columbia and we'll just see what happens next," she said. "Either the industry recognizes they have it and get those infected fish out or we just play Russian roulette like we are now and eventually it will go virulent."
