RTE News has reported that “testing on mink [fur] farms in Kerry, Donegal and Laois is under way as part of enhanced surveillance implemented by the Department of Agriculture in the wake of a variant of Covid-19 being discovered in mink farms in other countries.”
Watch the RTE News report at
https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1109/1176939-coronavirus-mink/
The President of the Epidemiology and Public Health section of the Royal Society of Medicine is warning that if the new strain of Covid-19 discovered in mink in Denmark becomes dominant, then all the efforts made to develop an effective vaccine may be "for nothing".
It is imperative, given what is at stake, that the Irish Government scraps the “enhanced surveillance” approach and, in the interests of public health, takes preventive action and immediately shuts down the three fur farms.
In an email to Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, ICABS stated: “It would be unforgivable if this course of action was not followed and a mutated version of the virus emerged in Ireland, causing further infections, deaths, lockdowns and a possible return to square one for those working to produce an effective vaccine.”
Both were reminded that the government has already pledged to ban fur farming and that the closure of fur farms is inevitable so therefore, closing them down now would merely be a matter of speeding up this process.
Find out more about Coronavirus (COVID-19) and how you can protect yourself and your family - https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/
ACTION ALERT
Please join us in urging the government to shut down Ireland’s three remaining fur farms and put in place the promised ban on fur farming.
Micheál Martin, Taoiseach
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste
Telephone: +353 (0)1-704 3630 OR +353 (0)1-640 3133
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: @LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Eamon Ryan TD
Leader, Green Party
Tel: 01 618 3894
Email: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EamonRyanGP/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EamonRyan
Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly
Tel: (01) 201 7300 or (01) 618 3041
Email: ministersoffice@health.gov.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DonnellyforWicklow
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DonnellyStephen
Charlie McConalogue
Minister for Agriculture
Tel: (01) 618 3199
Email: charlie.mcconalogue@oireachtas.ie
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CharlieMcConalogue
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@McConalogue
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Ban fur farming in Ireland
https://www.change.org/p/ban-fur-farming-in-ireland
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