Birds flying over a fur farm in Kalajoki, North Ostrobothnia, in August 2023. The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) believes fur farming in its current form is causing a constant pandemic risk. Fur farming, it added last month, should be allowed to continue only if fur farms ramp up their biosafety and hygiene measures to the same level as food producers. (Roni Rekomaa – Lehtikuva)
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THE FINNISH INSTITUTE for Health and Welfare (THL) in November stated that fur farming in its current form constitutes a constant pandemic risk.
In a statement submitted to the Parliament’s Agriculture and Forestry Committee, THL argued that fur farming should be allowed only if fur farms, under supervision, ramp up their biosafety and hygiene measures to reduce the risk of infections at least to the level required from food producers.
If the measures cannot be implemented, the Finnish government should not only ban fur farming but also work toward a ban at the EU level.
“Currently fur farming is posing too great a risk to human lives and health due to the pandemic risk,” Otto Helve, the director of the public health division at THL, commented in a press release on 15 November.
THL reminded that H5N1, a highly pathogenic variant of the avian influenza, caused infections at dozens of fur farms in Finland in 2023. The infections prompted health authorities to order the farms to cull tens of thousands of foxes, minks and common raccoon dogs over concerns that the animals could function as an intermediary host, allowing the virus to mutate into a strain that can transmit to humans.
This year, the variant has caused wide-scale epidemics at cattle farms in North America, the institute reminded later in November. It described the situation as “unusual” as the virus has caused infections not only in poultry but also in dairy cattle, with infections confirmed in over 500 cattle farms in 15 states across the US.
Globally, the number of humans infected by the variant has also increased noticeably from previous years.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
