I REFER to your report “Kedah DAP pulls out of state government over abattoir” (NST, July 2) which said Kedah Democratic Action Party pulled out of the state Pakatan Rakyat government after accusing Pas of being insensitive to the needs of the Chinese by demolishing an abattoir.

The reason appears to be that during its 30 years of existence, rapid development has taken place and the abattoir is now in the midst of a densely populated residential area.

The authorities should have made arrangements for the abattoir to be relocated to a more suitable area.

I hope the butchers do not resort to slaughtering pigs in secret, unhygienic premises to avoid detection by the authorities.

Although abattoirs are not pleasant places, they still serve a very useful purpose — that of helping to safeguard public health.

Besides ensuring that strict standards of hygiene are observed at abattoirs during the process of slaughter and dressing of the carcasses to avoid contamination and ensure wholesomeness of the meat, ante-mortem examination before slaughter and meat inspection after slaughter can also be carried out by qualified personnel.

This ensures that disease-free meat is available for the public and that any disease infecting the animal can be identified.

If the infection is transmissible to humans, the farm from which the diseased animal originated can be traced and prompt action taken to contain and eradicate the disease.

Pigs are susceptible to infection by human, bird and swine influenza viruses — they have receptors for all three viruses — and there is a possibility of the genes from these viruses mixing or re-assorting in the pig’s body to produce new flu viruses with different antigenic qualities that could jump from the pigs to humans.

A new vaccine will have to be produced for this new virus, as the existing vaccines would not be effective.

The importance pig abattoirs play in the early detection of diseases transmissible from pigs to humans, therefore, cannot be overstated.

M.G.D. , Kuala Lumpur

Source: NST – July 9, 2009