South African farmers call for independent verification of foot-and-mouth disease tests
In South Africa, the farmer initiative FMD Response SA called for independent verification of foot-and-mouth disease test results conducted by the state Agricultural Research Council (ARC). Initiative representative Andrew Morphew said that some representative samples should be regularly sent to the reference laboratory at The Pirbright Institute to confirm the conclusions of South African specialists.
As Daily Maverick reports, FMD Response SA is a farmer-funded initiative that monitors the country’s practical and regulatory response to foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks. It argues that ARC has a potential conflict of interest because it simultaneously conducts official testing, determines virus strains and vaccine matching to those strains, and produces its own foot-and-mouth disease vaccine.
Proposal for external oversight
Morphew stressed that the initiative is not accusing ARC of wrongdoing. At the same time, he said vaccine manufacturers should not depend on a competitor as the sole source of evidence of their products’ effectiveness. FMD Response SA also proposes that ARC publish data on samples sent to The Pirbright Institute and the results of their examination.
According to the initiative, open access to up-to-date information on circulating virus strains would allow independent laboratories and vaccine manufacturers to assess whether products match those strains. “If the independent results match ARC’s results, confidence increases. If not, we need to know,” Morphew said.
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ARC’s position and the situation at OBP
ARC-OVR representative Isaac Ntshauba said ARC does not consider the combination of vaccine production with outbreak confirmation, official testing and vaccine-matching studies to be a conflict of interest. According to him, the foot-and-mouth disease reference laboratory and the vaccine production unit operate separately, both operationally and financially. He noted that ARC-OVR is one of two WOAH foot-and-mouth disease reference laboratories in Africa and conducts diagnostics, virus typing, vaccine-matching studies and specialized reference tests.
Ntshauba also said that regularly sending diagnostic samples to The Pirbright Institute is not necessary, as both laboratories have WOAH reference laboratory status.
FMD Response SA’s call came amid the precautionary suspension of Jacob Modumo, acting chief executive officer of the state vaccine distributor Onderstepoort Biological Products. On September 5, Agriculture Minister Willie Ockamp said the suspension had been preceded by allegations of possible serious irregularities related to the pricing of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines. The minister stressed that the measure does not constitute a finding of guilt and should not affect ongoing foot-and-mouth disease vaccination efforts.
