African swine fever - soon all over Europe?

One of the main reasons for this situation is the absence of an independent reference laboratory with ASF, the director of the Institute of Veterinary Medicine of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, the doctor of veterinary sciences, professor, corresponding member of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine Serhii Nychyk said during his speech at the European Parliament in the framework of the international conference "African swine fever - soon across Europe?, which took place on June 19, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium.

Expect the MEPs, these speakers were invited to the conference: Krzysztof Hetman, EU Member of Parliament, Czesław Siekierski, Chairman of the AGRI of the EU Parliamentary Committee, Bernard van Goethem, Director of DG SANTE, European Commission, Professor Hosk Manuel José Manuel Sánchez-Vizcaino, Faculty of Animal Health, University of Madrid, ASF expert, Sławomir Sosnowski, Head of the Lublin Voivodeship, Jan Prandota, Ex-Director of the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Food Safety of Ministry of Agriculture in Poland, Marek Sulima, a representative of the farmers of the Lublin region of Poland.

During the conference Professor Serhii Nychyk presented the report "African swine fever in Ukraine: the state and ways of eradication", in which he noted that the priority directions for solving this problem are the harmonization of the legislative base of Ukraine and the EU in the field of biosecurity, biosafety and animal health protection, an independent reference laboratory on the basis of the Institute of Veterinary Medicine for the development of scientifically based measures to combat ASF, in-depth study of the pathogen, analysis and predictive measures disease sites. "An important element of effectiveness is the complete independence of the reference laboratory from the impact of the State Veterinary Service (the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection) and the involvement of leading European experts from Germany, Spain and Poland as independent experts," Serhii Nychyk said.

With the deputies of the European Parliament discussions were held on possible assistance from the EU on monitoring, forecasting and ensuring the epizootic well-being of Ukraine regarding the ASF. Speakers also noted that the requirements for Ukraine regarding animal health and the safety of livestock products should be such as in the EU member states and the inadmissibility of concealing the state of the problem in Ukraine and the countries of Eastern Europe for this disease.

The participants of the conference agreed that in case of creating the ASF reference laboratory in Ukraine, experts from Poland, Spain and Germany should take part in its work as independent experts. It is also necessary to create a roadmap for overcoming the epizootic of ASF in Ukraine.