Emily
Editor, Senior Moderator
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/07/24/f-swine-flu-erickson.html
Investigating the CFIA's swine flu fumble
Last Updated: Friday, July 24, 2009
By Krista Erickson, CBC News
"It all began with the proverbial brown envelope. We do receive them from time to time, here at the CBC. Quite often, the contents are incomprehensible or inconsequential.
This wasn't one of those occasions.
The envelope arrived anonymously at a CBC station in Alberta last weekend. Inside, an internal report from Alberta Health Services revealed two government inspectors with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had contracted swine flu after investigating a quarantined farm in late April. The reason? They lacked the proper equipment and training.
We began pursuing the story on Monday. The CFIA's point man was Dr. Jim Clark, the national manager for disease control. He agreed to a phone interview and offered an interesting insight that didn't make it into our broadcast that night. Clark said Alberta Health Services never shared the contents of the report with the CFIA, In fact, he only found out about the report that very day.
"I think if there were deficiencies, it would have been appropriate to give us this information prior to making it public," Clark said.
The CFIA clearly disapproved of that brown envelope making its way into our hands. Little did we know, the contents were only half of the story.
Tuesday
On Tuesday afternoon, a phone call came from the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the union representing the infected workers. There was a lot more we needed to know, the union said. One of the two infected workers actually boarded a plane after exposure to swine flu. She was asked to deliver samples from the infected pigs to the federal virology lab in Winnipeg.
Jenn Gearey, a media relations officer with CFIA, said that Clark was not available for an interview at all that day. "Everybody seems pretty occupied," she said in a voicemail. But when we told Gearey about the plane development, the CFIA had a change of heart. Clark's schedule suddenly had an opening, and he was free for an on-camera interview after 6 p.m. ET.
We had a number of questions. Which flight and what airline? Clark wasn't prepared to say. Whose fault was it this happened? Why was an untrained inspector assigned to transport the samples?
"I'm not sure of the relevance of some of the questions you're asking," Clark said.
He also questioned the relevance of the news media reporting such an event.
"I don't think you're in a position as a news agency to make a judgment about the appropriate levels of risk that are associated with whether this individual may or may not have represented any kind of a risk to the people on the plane," he said to the CBC...."continued at link
Investigating the CFIA's swine flu fumble
Last Updated: Friday, July 24, 2009
By Krista Erickson, CBC News
"It all began with the proverbial brown envelope. We do receive them from time to time, here at the CBC. Quite often, the contents are incomprehensible or inconsequential.
This wasn't one of those occasions.
The envelope arrived anonymously at a CBC station in Alberta last weekend. Inside, an internal report from Alberta Health Services revealed two government inspectors with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had contracted swine flu after investigating a quarantined farm in late April. The reason? They lacked the proper equipment and training.
We began pursuing the story on Monday. The CFIA's point man was Dr. Jim Clark, the national manager for disease control. He agreed to a phone interview and offered an interesting insight that didn't make it into our broadcast that night. Clark said Alberta Health Services never shared the contents of the report with the CFIA, In fact, he only found out about the report that very day.
"I think if there were deficiencies, it would have been appropriate to give us this information prior to making it public," Clark said.
The CFIA clearly disapproved of that brown envelope making its way into our hands. Little did we know, the contents were only half of the story.
Tuesday
On Tuesday afternoon, a phone call came from the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the union representing the infected workers. There was a lot more we needed to know, the union said. One of the two infected workers actually boarded a plane after exposure to swine flu. She was asked to deliver samples from the infected pigs to the federal virology lab in Winnipeg.
Jenn Gearey, a media relations officer with CFIA, said that Clark was not available for an interview at all that day. "Everybody seems pretty occupied," she said in a voicemail. But when we told Gearey about the plane development, the CFIA had a change of heart. Clark's schedule suddenly had an opening, and he was free for an on-camera interview after 6 p.m. ET.
We had a number of questions. Which flight and what airline? Clark wasn't prepared to say. Whose fault was it this happened? Why was an untrained inspector assigned to transport the samples?
"I'm not sure of the relevance of some of the questions you're asking," Clark said.
He also questioned the relevance of the news media reporting such an event.
"I don't think you're in a position as a news agency to make a judgment about the appropriate levels of risk that are associated with whether this individual may or may not have represented any kind of a risk to the people on the plane," he said to the CBC...."continued at link