Two Canadian Scientists Charged with Smuggling Dangerous and Highly Contagious Pathogens to China.(CTV).Canadian federal police on Wednesday charged two former government scientists with allegedly trafficking in dangerous and highly contagious germs.
Klaus Nielsen and Wei Ling Yu, former researchers at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), are accused of attempting to export harmful pathogens that could infect humans and livestock to China.
Last October 24, RCMP and Ottawa police intercepted Nielsen, a well-respected scientist, on his way to the Ottawa airport. Officers found 17 vials of pathogens in Nielsen’s possession that “he was attempting to export in an unsafe manner.
“These vials were analyzed by the PHAC and found to contain live brucella bacteria that can infect livestock and humans.”
University of Guelph Prof. Keith Warriner said humans who come in contact with the bacteria can develop flu-like symptoms “that go on and on for months and months.”
Warriner told CTV’s Power Play Wednesday that brucella is what is known as a select agent, because it is “very nasty” and highly contagious.
“What the brucella was going to be used for is anyone’s guess,” Warriner said. “Certainly it’s a select agent that’s been put out there as a high risk. So what somebody was doing with 17 vials in an airport or in their own home is alarming.”
It mostly affects cattle, deer and horses, but can also be passed on to humans and cause flu-like symptoms. There is no vaccine and the only way to control its spread is to cull animals suspected of being infected.
Nielsen was reportedly praised in 2006 for helping to develop a quick test for detecting brucellosis in cattle.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said he and Yu were allegedly making “unlawful efforts to commercialize (the) intellectual property belonging to the CFIA and a private commercial partner.”
US company Diachemix currently manufactures and licenses the test.Read the full story and more here.
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