Sir, I am concerned that you described the response to the discovery of the dead swan in Fife as “sloppy” (leading article, April 7).

The bird was reported at 6.40pm on March 29 and picked up at approximately 1pm the next day. It arrived at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, the following day, March 31.

The VLA works 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. It conducts its work based on risk. Suspected cases in poultry are dealt with more quickly and out of normal office hours because of their potential to have more serious consequences than wild birds collected as part of routine surveillance. There have been 1,100 wild birds submitted to Weybridge since the end of February.

The swan samples were subjected to tests on April 3-4. These were more challenging than usual because of the state of decomposition of the tissue.

These tests led to the announcement on April 5 of the H5 strain. Identifying the N type and isolating virus takes longer and we were able to do that only on April 6.

Scientists at the VLA are not only working to protect the UK. The VLA is the international reference laboratory for a number of animal diseases including avian flu.

DR DEBBY REYNOLDS
UK Chief Veterinary Officer
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Sir, Your “Birdwatching” leader on Defra’s “sloppy” response to the avian flu threat echoes my own strain of Defra experience — this, when combined with the virulent attentions of Customs, can mutate into deadly bureaucracy.

I run a business making fishing flies from feathers, most of which we import. In November we sought Defra’s advice on importing from China/Hong Kong and were reassured that processed feathers could be safely brought in provided they were “accompanied by a commercial document outlining the processing methods and imported through a border inspection post where they would be subjected to veterinary checks”. No guidance was given on the processing methods required, the location or the veterinary checks.

In January the feathers arrived at Exeter airport where Customs seized them and ordered their destruction without examination even though they were accompanied by a fumigation/disinfection certificate and a veterinary certificate confirming they had been processed as required. Additionally, the feathers had been bleached and dyed, rendering them as inert as auntie’s knitting wool.

The shipment should have been stopped and inspected at Heathrow. Although it was still in bond, Customs would not allow it to be returned to Heathrow for inspection. It could not be inspected by vets from Defra’s Exeter office; it could not go to the laboratories at Weybridge. Defra suggested it be returned to Hong Kong and re-imported to Heathrow for inspection — but this was unacceptable to Customs. Instead, a man in a fluorescent jacket was summoned from Cambridge in his specially adapted shock-proof van to collect the feathers and return them to Cambridge for incineration. Defra could not intervene because Customs had made the seizure and Customs could not deviate from the Defra regulations.

Bureacracy-watchers will be delighted to know that when goods are cleared by Customs in Exeter, the Customs officers are located in Aberdeen; if an officer’s personal attendance is required, he or she is sent from Avonmouth.

I was instructed to send my appeal for compensation to Falmouth, from where it was forwarded to Plymouth and thence to Dover where no decision has yet been taken.

TOD MARSHMAN
Winkleigh, Devon

Sir, Respiratory diseases are caught by the inhalation of aerosols produced when an infected individual coughs and sneezes. If the bird in your pot, or the egg in your egg cup, is to transmit bird flu, then not only is it insufficiently cooked, but it is insufficiently dead.

We should move away from the suggestion that influenza can be caught by eating meat or eggs, if the Currie effect is not to be repeated.

BRIAN SLATER
Llangollen, Denbighshire

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