World meat industry news

The Russian government has submitted a bill to the State Duma for consideration, which provides for the introduction of criminal liability for intentionally infecting farm animals with pathogenic microorganisms.

The change is proposed to be made to articles 205 and 281 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (articles “Terrorist act” and “Sabotage”).

According to the proposed changes, the use of pathogenic biological agents will be regarded as a terrorist act. In addition, liability is expected to be introduced for encroachment on potentially dangerous biological objects. The maximum penalty for this offense is life imprisonment.

Causing harm to human health or components of the natural environment in order to undermine the economic security of the country will be regarded as sabotage. The maximum penalty under this article is also life imprisonment.

As follows from the explanatory note to the document, in the current version of the Criminal Code, liability is provided only for encroachment on objects of the technosphere and the life support of the population. Responsibility does not apply to components of the natural environment.

At the same time, as the authors of the amendments note, in modern conditions, the economic security of the country can be significantly weakened “through the deliberate removal of the able-bodied population from economic activity, infection of farm animals and plants, rendering food and raw materials unusable.”

“One of the most likely ways of committing the above acts of sabotage may be the use of pathogenic biological agents (pathogens) that cause epidemics, epizootics and the spread of epiphytoties,” the explanatory note says.

For example, intentionally editing a strain of a live veterinary vaccine can pose a threat to livestock production and, in general, to the biosecurity of a country. Experts of the All-Russian State Center for the Quality and Standardization of Medicines for Animals and Feed (FGBU “VGNKI” of Rosselkhoznadzor) drew attention to this earlier. The fact is that foreign manufacturers of vaccines have not yet provided production strains of drugs to Russian collections. Although this is a requirement of the law on biosecurity.

“Of course, this situation poses a certain threat to the biosecurity of Russia, especially when it comes to the use of live vaccines. When strain samples are concealed under the pretext of trade secrets, there are concerns about possible deliberate editing of the strain used for a particular market. That is, the manufacturer can interfere with the composition of the strain or introduce into the vaccine those elements that should not be contained in it. In the absence of a reference sample, the regulatory authorities can neither detect such manipulations nor confirm the safety of the vaccine used, ”explained Leonid Kish, director of the VGNKI.