URGENT Vet who opposed killer virus under threat

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

 

In 1995 Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease escaped from an Australian Government

test

facility and spread across Australia.

 

Many wild and pet rabbits died of RHD as the epidemic spread

across the Australian continent.

 

At the time RHD escaped from Wardang Island (only 5 kilometres off the coast

of South Australia) , 4 out of the 5 major calicivirus groups were known to

infect humans.

 

CSIRO scientists cannot guarantee RHD will not jump species to infect or

kill

native animals, livestock or humans.

 

One particular USA scientist, Dr Alvin Smith, who had studied caliciviruses

for over 20 years, spoke out against the use of RHD as a biocide in

Australia.

 

Some of Dr Alvin Smith's comments and responses to Australian Government

propaganda can be read at

http://www.vet.orst.edu/FCSTFHOM/Smith-A/CALICI.HTM

 

Dr Alvin Smith also flew to Australia and appeared on 60 Minutes during the

RHD epidemic and presented a very clear message about the danger

of deliberately spreading deadly viruses such as RHD when there are no safe

vaccines

or cures for these evolving viruses.

 

Dr Alvin Smith is now threatened with having his continued research stopped

by Oregon State University policy changes. Coincidentally, Dr Smith and some

of his

associates may have just discovered a possible cure for the deadly Cat

Calicivirus.

Dr Smith may also be able to help find a cure or a safe vaccine for RHD in

the future.

 

Please write to Oregon State University and ask that Dr Alvin Smith PhD,

DVM, and the Laboratory of Caliciviruses are able to continue their research

to help the animals as they have in the past with no administrative or

management changes or hinderances.

 

Please show your support for this brave and astute man who spoke out against

the deliberate spread of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease in Australia and New

Zealand.

 

I believe Dr Alvin Smith deserves the Nobel Prize for his work in

identifying diseases such as caliciviruses that kill our pets and other

animals. His potential future involvement in trying to help identify and

cure some of of these nasty diseases should not be

sabotaged.

 

Here are some sample letters you can read to help support Dr Alvin Smith.

 

Please help this researcher and veterinarian who has done so much to help

the animals and has the potential to save many animal lives (and perhaps

human lives) in the

future.

 

Kind regards,

 

Marguerite Wegner

President of the House Rabbit Society of Australia Inc

Webmaster of Rabbit Information Service

http://www.iinet.net.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm

 

******************************************************

Please write to Dr Paul Risser, President of Oregon State University

and

Timothy Peter White (Provost and Executive Vice-President

of Oregon State University)

 

Dr. Paul Risser, President

600 Kerr Administration Bldg,

Corvallis, OR 97331-2128.

Voice 541-737-4133.

Fax 541-737-3033.

Email <Pres.Office

 

 

Timothy Peter White

Provost & Executive VP

Department Provost / Exec Vice Pres

Office Phone Number 541 737 0733

Fax Int 0011 1 541-737-3033

Office Address Office of the Provost

624 Kerr Administration Bldg

Corvallis, OR 97331

Email Address tim.white

 

******************************************************

 

 

Dr Paul Risser and OSU Board of Advisers

Oregon State University,

600 Kerr Administration Building,

Corvallis,

Oregon, USA 97331-2128

Fax 0011 1 541 737

cc Mr Timothy P. White

 

18th August 2002

 

Dear Dr Risser,

 

The Laboratory of Calicivirus Studies at Oregon State University may be

unable to continue its research into caliciviruses as effectively as it has

in past years according to a USA animal welfare mailing list. The internet

posting I read implied Dr Alvin Smith and his colleagues at the Laboratory

of Calicivirus Studies at OSU may not be able to continue their specialist

diagnostic work due to funding and management restructuring.

 

I have been following the work of Dr Alvin Smith PhD, Head of the Laboratory

of Calicivirus Studies and his colleagues for nearly seven years. I am

President of the House Rabbit Society of Australia Inc and I have been a

member of various committees of animal welfare organisations here in Western

Australia over the years.

 

When the first outbreak of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease occurred in Australia

in 1995, I was inundated with inquiries to supply people with information

about RHD and other caliciviruses capable of infecting and killing pets. I

contacted Dr Alvin Smith and I asked him for information about

caliciviruses. Dr Smith supplied me with invaluable information about

caliciviruses. He helped clarify a lot of mis-information circulating in

Australia about RHD and other caliciviruses. Information I received from Dr

Smith complimented information received about RHD from eminent scientists

such as Professor Leo Jeffcott, (Cambridge University,UK), Dr Francisco

Parra (Spain) and Dr David Matson and Dr Jay Kirkpatrick (USA). Dr Alvin

Smith’s information about RHD also complimented information I received from

the Ministry of Agriculture in Britain. This combined information helped

many people understand how best to protect their pet rabbits from RHD. I

believe we saved the lives of many pets by explaining how RHD spread, how

deadly RHD was and how best to protect pet rabbits

by vaccination and avoiding contact with people and places where the disease

resided.

 

I urge OSU and the Board of Advisers to reconsider plans to restructure the

management and operations of the Laboratory of Calicivirus Studies. I hope

you will consult with Dr Alvin Smith and his colleagues to find an

acceptable solution enabling the good work of Dr Alvin Smith and the

Laboratory of Calicivirus Studies to continue as it has in the past. If

results speak for themselves, there is no need to change the way in which

the Laboratory of Calicivirus Studies operates and if anything, more funding

should be sought for this laboratory and a greater recognition of its work

should be publicised and promoted by Oregon State University.

 

Kind regards,

 

Marguerite Wegner, B.Bus (Acc), B. Journalism,

President of the House Rabbit Society of Australia Inc.

 

*********************************************************

 

http://www.caliciwatch.org/newlet.html

 

P.O. Box 144 Creston CA 93432 805.227.0205 info

 

August 22, 2002

Dr. Tim White

Provost's Office

624 Kerr Administration Building

Oregon State University

Corvallis OR 97331-2153

Fax 541 737 3033

Int: 0011 1 541 737 3033

 

Dear Dr. White,

 

It is my understanding that you are in a position to end what is a

frightful mess created by the Administration of the College of Veterinary

Medicine. For years the well documented efforts of the Administration to

sabotage the work of The Laboratory for Calicivirus Studies has been left

unchecked by the University's greater Administration.

 

It is my further understanding that Oregon State University is taking

clear steps to end the tenure system in efforts to save on costs and still

be in a position to provide quality education to it's students. As a

businessperson I easily recognize the wisdom of this. As a businessperson I

also recognize that when important breakthroughs regarding public health and

the viability of industry can be attributed to an institution, that

institution benefits.

 

The work of the Laboratory for Calicivirus Studies is responsible for

ending disease and death as pictured herein. No other research program in

the country is responsible for an equal number of discoveries in the study

of Caliciviruses. To not support this laboratory is no different than

showing a complete disregard for public health. Please consider the response

Cat Lovers across the country will have when they learn that the Laboratory

for Calicivirus studies was closed when an opportunity to find a cure for

the disease causing the symptoms in the picture was at hand. That the

Laboratory's Lab

technician, Doug Schilling was not allowed to come in as a volunteer. That

even if he was allowed to do the work needed, he could not because the air

conditioner, vital to the proper functioning of the incubators used to

cultivate viruses, was not working and the University did nothing to fix it.

The grant being offered by the University of Kentucky is no different than

grants previously accepted. This particular grant will support work that

will lead to the safeguarding of the multi billion-dollar industry of

Thoroughbred Horses. Please consider how those in this industry will feel

when they learn that OSU purposely interfered with the search for a cure for

a disease that cost them dearly.

 

As a businessperson, I would hope that the University attends to this

important business. As a humane educator, I hope that at some point I can

tell others that OSU greatly impacted animal health and well being in a

positive way. As a human I would hope that OSU protects the work of the

Laboratory for Calicivrus Studies before my health is destroyed. First pigs,

then rabbits, then, very likely, the unborn horses of Kentucky. Now we sit

on the verge of massive deaths in cats. We could easily be next.

 

In a conversation I held with Vice Provost Ken Holden the actions taken

by the Administration of the College of Veterinary Medicine was defended.

Please. They are not defendable.

 

Sincerely,

 

Diane of The Sanctuary

cc: Dr. Paul Risser Members President's Advisory Board

www.caliciwatch.org

 

************************************************************