The World Heath Organization (WHO) has apologized to the Chinese government after bird flu samples provided by China were misused by foreign research institutions, China's chief veterinarian Jia Youling revealed yesterday.

 

 

Henk Bekedam, the WHO's China representative," apologized to me personally twice. His attitude was very sincere and I was deeply moved," Jia told a press conference hosted by the Information Office of the State Council.

 

Jia, director of the Ministry of Agriculture's veterinary bureau, said that at the WHO's request, China provided five bird flu samples to the WHO in June 2005 after a major outbreak in 2004.

 

"Foreign research institutions improperly used the samples in two cases, violating the intellectual property rights of Chinese researchers," he said.

 

In one research paper, the samples were attributed to countries other than China, Jia said, adding that co-author Rob Webster, from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the US, had also apologized to the Chinese research institution concerned.

 

In another case, foreign researchers cited the Chinese sample without giving credit to the Chinese side, which contravenes international practice, Jia said. He declined to give the researchers' names.

 

Previously Bekedam told Reuters that the Chinese samples were used in research that failed to acknowledge that China's Ministry of Agriculture had identified the virus, in breach of scientific protocol.

 

"That happened twice, and I apologized on behalf of the WHO collaborating center because that is bad behavior among scientists," he said.

 

Jia rejected accusations that China has been reluctant to share its bird flu samples with the international community.

 

In addition to the five samples provided in 2005, he said China has provided WHO with 20 further samples, which will be sent to a WHO collaborating laboratory with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 

"We are happy about the development," Bekedam told China Daily. "I don't know what kind of clearance they'll have to go through on the other side, and how long it will take, but we expect the CDC can confirm they have received them some time next week."

 

China told the WHO Beijing office on March 1 that it was ready to provide the 20 samples requested by the UN organization in early February, according to Jia.

 

But it took time to arrange the logistics and go through customs procedures for the Chinese side, the WHO and the recipient of the shipment of highly pathogenic virus samples, he said.

 

Jia said the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to work closely with the international community, including the WHO, to control bird flu.

 

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily November 11, 2006)