European Food Safety Authority AHAW Panel MINUTES OF THE XXIV TH PLENARY MEETING OF THE PANEL ON ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE DECEMBER 2006

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1 European Food Safety Authority AHAW Panel MINUTES OF THE XXIV TH PLENARY MEETING OF THE PANEL ON ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE DECEMBER WELCOME, APOLOGIES AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA PREVIOUS MINUTES ADOPTED BY WRITTEN PROCEDURE MEETING: COMMISSION SERVICES: NEW MANDATES BLUETONGUE MANDATE AND FOLLOW UP OF THE EPIDEMIOLOGY WG OPINIONS AND REPORTS SUBMITTED FOR POSSIBLE ADOPTION/ ACCEPTANCE BRUCELLOSIS MIGRATORY BIRDS RABIES DISCUSSION ON HOW TO IMPROVE WORK METHODOLOGY IN ORDER TO INCREASE PLENARY MEETINGS EFFICIENCY DISCUSSION ABOUT THE LETTERS FROM ROYAL SOCIETY AND EUROGROUP CONCERNING THE WELFARE OF LABORATORY ANIMALS WRITTEN COMMENTS ON THE STATE OF PLAY OF THE SCIENTIFIC OPINIONS AND REPORTS TO BE DICUSSED ONLY IF REQUIRED BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE WG ECHINOCOCCUS TICKS EFSA GUIDANCE DOCUMENT ON THE CONDUCT OF RISK ASSESSMENTS IN FOOD PRODUCING ANIMALS PIG WELFARE; 1) TAIL BITING; 2) SOWS AND BOARS 3) FATTENING FISH WELFARE; 1) ATLANTIC SALMON; 2) TROUT SPECIES;3) CARP SPECIES; 4) SEA BASS AND GILTHEAD SEABREAM; 5) EUROPEAN EEL AVIAN INFLUENZA NEWCASTLE DISEASE WELFARE OF DAIRY COWS TUBERCULOSIS IN DEER MISCELLANEOUS ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES NEXT PLENARY MEETING / 6

2 PARTICIPANTS Bo Algers, Harry Blokhuis, Patrizia Costa, Mariano Domingo, Matthias Greiner, Daniel Guemene, Joerg Hartung, Trevor Hastings, Per Have, Frank Koenen, David Morton, Christine Müller-Graf, Dirk Pfeiffer, Mo Salman, Moez Sanaa, Michael Sharp, Philippe Vannier, Martin Wierup and Marion Wooldridge. EUROPEAN COMMISSION (DG SANCO): Sabine Osaer, Helene Klein, EFSA: R. Carfagnini and M. C. Addis (administrative staff AHAW Unit); S. Correia, O. Ribó, A. Afonso, F. De Massis, J. Pujols, D. Candiani, E. Aiassa, J. Serratosa (Scientific Coordination AHAW Unit) 1. WELCOME, APOLOGIES AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST The chairman welcomed the participants and no member declared any conflict of interest on the items on the agenda. Apologies were received from Donald Broom, Albert Osterhaus and OIE Mrs. Lea Knopf. 2. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA The agenda was adopted. 3. PREVIOUS MINUTES ADOPTED BY WRITTEN PROCEDURE MEETING: The minutes of the previous 23 rd Plenary Meeting held in Parma on th October, were unanimously adopted by written procedure by the Panel members on 30 th November 2006 and published on the web ( 4. COMMISSION SERVICES: 4.1. New Mandates The Commission services did not inform AHAW about any new mandate Bluetongue Mandate and follow up of the Epidemiology WG A mandate was received at EFSA on 11 December regarding Bluetongue (vectors and vaccines) with a deadline of 30 March Because the AHAW Unit had been given plenty of notice by the Commission, a kick-off meeting had already been organized for 20 December to start the activities with experts from the Panel and ad hoc experts.. The terms of reference and the feasibility of the mandate will be discussed in order to provide an appropriate answer to the Commission. The epidemiological working group is currently delivering a weekly report available at EFSA website (Bluetongue Serotype 8 Epidemic Bulletin by EFSA Epidemiology Working Group). The deadline for the final epidemiological analysis is by 31 January / 6

3 5. OPINIONS AND REPORTS SUBMITTED FOR POSSIBLE ADOPTION/ ACCEPTANCE 5.1. Brucellosis The chairman of the WG explained that a meeting has been held in Paris on November 23 rd, to finalise the discussion and conclusion sections of the document. The final draft report has been sent to the AHAW Panel on December 1 st for possible adoption. The Scientific Report and the scientific opinion were presented by the chairman of the working group. After a short discussion the scientific Report drafted by the working group was accepted unanimously. The scientific opinion based on the data provided in the scientific report allowed the panel to draft the conclusions and recommendations for the Commission. The Scientific Opinion was discussed and after some editorial changes, improvements and clarifications the Opinion was unanimously adopted. The final adopted document will be amended following the agreement of the Panel by EFSA scientific secretariat, however the chairman and two members of the panel will check all changes before the document is published on the web Migratory birds The chairman of the WG explained that the last meeting was held in London on November 3 rd, in order to finalize a proposal to extend the recommendations of the previous opinion in an Addendum. The proposed draft Addendum to the Scientific Opinion was sent to the Panel last November 27 th and was proposed for possible adoption. The chairman presented the document, and after discussion, amendments and editorial changes the document was unanimously adopted Rabies The chairman of the WG explained that a meeting has been held on the th of November to clarify all the doubts raised during the last Plenary and by the WG experts. A teleconference with some of the WG members was held on the 21 st November, and a final meeting with the Chairman and Risk assessor was held on the 24 th November in Paris to finalise the Scientific Opinion. The final draft was sent to the Panel on the 28 th November for possible adoption. The chairman of the WG proposed to compile in a single document (scientific opinion) all available data used for the risk assessment, the risk assessment itself as well the conclusions and recommendations from the Panel. The Commission official requested better wording and clarification of some of those conclusions and recommendations and a harmonisation of the terms used in the scientific opinion in order to facilitate its interpretation. The scientific opinion was adopted unanimously but some further amendments and editorial changes are to be made by the EFSA scientific secretariat and by the chairman according to the comments received. One member of the panel will check all changes introduced before publishing the document in the web. 3 / 6

4 5.4. Discussion on how to improve work methodology in order to increase plenary meetings efficiency The panel agreed that the short report sent by EFSA scientific secretariat on the state of play of the current opinions was a good way to increase the efficiency and should be maintained for future meetings. Other relevant issues discussed were: i) the need to receive the final version of the opinions for possible adoption at least two weeks before the plenary; ii) documents presented at the plenary with visible track changes of any amendments from the previous version together with any other comments; iii) It was proposed to assign Panel experts not involved in the WG as external reviewers who should present during the plenary meeting the positive and negative aspects of the scientific opinions; iv) transversal meeting (joining the experts of the WG and the Panel members should be organized together with the WG experts at the earliest opportunity Discussion about the letters from Royal Society and Eurogroup concerning the welfare of laboratory animals The panel accepted to publish the content of the proposed modifications to the scientific opinion on laboratory animals in a Corrigendum in the EFSA web. 6. WRITTEN COMMENTS ON THE STATE OF PLAY OF THE SCIENTIFIC OPINIONS AND REPORTS TO BE DICUSSED ONLY IF REQUIRED BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE WG 6.1. Echinococcus The final meeting took place on the 5 th December. On Friday 8 th December the Commission forwarded to EFSA a risk assessment report sent by Ireland, which should also be taken into consideration in this scientific opinion. The reports from Finland, Sweden, UK (Veterinary Risk Assessment) were also considered. The chairman of the WG presented for discussion the draft opinion on Echinococcosis. The chairman suggested that due to lack of available data a qualitative Risk Assessment was carried out but a quantitative model based in some assumptions could also be used to demonstrate relevant issues in answer to the second question of the terms of reference. A transversal WG meeting is planned for 13/12/06. The letter sent from EFSA to the Commission on November 28 th, requesting the two mandates to be separated Echinococcosis and ticks has not been yet replied. It was agreed that the final scientific opinion should be sent by EFSA with the agreement of the chairman of the WG before the 22 December. The scientific opinion will be circulated for possible adoption following the written procedure. The deadline for replies comments/adoption was established in 10 working days after receiving the opinion Ticks The chairman of the WG reported that a teleconference with WG Members was held on November 28 th during which rules of procedure, scope and objectives of the report and 4 / 6

5 plan of contents were discussed. On December 1 st a meeting between the chairman and EFSA secretariat was held and a first draft report with distribution of tasks was sent to the W/G members. The chairman underlined the lack of official documents from the affected member states. A meeting is scheduled for the 23/1/07 in London. A draft document will be available after 23 January to be discussed at the next plenary meeting EFSA Guidance Document On the conduct of Risk assessments in food producing animals The Chairman of the AHAW Panel confirmed (Plenary of October 26 th -27 th 2006), that a mandate for specific guidelines for AW RA will be produced in 2007, Therefore, the current document on RA in food producing animals should focus on general issues that would be developed in more depth in the future AW RA guidelines. The WG members had already come to the conclusion that the document would be vastly improved and clarified by a thorough restructuring. The document should be available for possible adoption at the next plenary meeting in January Pig Welfare; 1) Tail biting; 2) Sows and Boars 3) Fattening A common meeting on RA approach in welfare issues was held on November 2006 in Brussels with the members of the three WGs. A document on the Risk Assessment Approach was produced, which will constitute the basic guidelines to be followed by the three WG on pig welfare Fish Welfare; 1) Atlantic Salmon; 2) Trout Species;3) Carp Species; 4) sea bass and gilthead seabream; 5) European eel The last meeting on Fish Welfare was held on 27 November in Parma. Issues related to food safety aspects were discussed together with the expert nominated by the BIOHAZ panel. An expert from the CONTAM panel was also appointed for safety assessment of wild and farmed fish Avian Influenza AI Vaccines The first WG Meeting was held last 15 November in Brussels. As some contributions were requested before the meeting the Draft version 1.0 of the Scientific Report was discussed during the meeting and new tasks and deadlines were assigned. Next meeting will be on 3 rd January Zoo birds Vaccination The first WG Meeting was held in Rotterdam last 13 November. The structure of the Scientific Opinion as well as tasks and deadlines were agreed and assigned. Next meetings will be on 19 December in Rotterdam and 4 th January As the deadline from the Commission is 31 January 2007, the Scientific Opinion shall be finalised during the 4 th January meeting to be submitted for adoption during the next Plenary Meeting. 5 / 6

6 6.7. Newcastle disease. The first meeting was held on the 6 th Nov in Brussels, the last was held on the 5 th Dec also in Brussels and a further one is anticipated immediately after the plenary on the 13 and 14 th of Dec. Data has been compiled from different sources Commission, OIE and NRL ND; Some difficulties have been identified on the collation of data from these different sources. It is planned to give a special focus on this issue in the next meeting Welfare of Dairy Cows The kick-off meeting has not yet been fixed with the Commission services. However a list of proposed experts was sent to the chairman as well as a draft plan of contents based on the mandate Tuberculosis in Deer A kick-off meeting is planned for the 19 th of December in Brussels for clarification of the ToR with the Commission. 7. MISCELLANEOUS Administrative issues Some administrative issues (fees, reimbursements, derogations, meeting arrangements last minute changes in the meeting schedule, declarations of interest, etc) were discussed. The chairman announced that those issues will be further discussed at the Scientific Committee meeting and will be duly reported to the panel. EFSA secretariat proposed some amendments on the previous Rules of Procedure for the establishment of working groups and it was agreed to submit the document to the Panel for possible adoption at the next plenary meeting Next Plenary Meeting The next plenary meeting will take place in Parma the next 31 st January from 9.00 am pm and 1 st February from 8.30 am to pm. Dr Trevor Hastings will take up a new job in January and announced that he will resign from the AHAW Panel after the next plenary meeting. Up to that date he will follow to all activities and WG already planned. 6 / 6