reading this could spoil your dinner
VANCOUVER (Mar 11, 2004)
Human remains may have been in meat processed for human consumption at a pig farm at the centre of the investigation into Vancouver's missing women, B.C.'s provincial health officer confirmed yesterday.
"We can't rule out the possibility of cross-contamination,'' Dr. Perry Kendall said in an interview.
When asked if cross-contamination meant human remains found their way into meat processed at the infamous farm, Kendall said:
"It's very disturbing to think about, but there's that possibility of some cross-contamination. But the degree of it, or when or how much, we really don't know.
"I think if we could rule it out, we definitely would like to,'' Kendall said.
Robert Pickton faces 15 counts of first-degree murder in the disappearance of women from Vancouver's downtown Eastside.
Police have said they have found human remains and other DNA samples at the farm Pickton owned with his brother and sister near Port Coquitlam, just east of Vancouver.
Kendall has asked anyone who may still have frozen pork products from Pickton's farm to return those products to police.
"As a result of information that we recently received from the RCMP, we have reason to believe that there is a strong possibility that some of the product from the Pickton farms -- and how much the RCMP do not know -- may still be sitting in some people's freezer in the Lower Mainland,'' Kendall later told a news conference in Victoria.
Kendall said Pickton apparently had a habit of slaughtering pigs, wrapping up the meat and distributing it to associates and friends.
The unlicensed slaughter facility was very unsanitary, he said.
"We know from the risk assessment that was conducted by Health Canada that any meat that might remain in people's storage does pose some quantifiable risk to human health,'' Kendall said.
The risks include disease-carrying bacteria and parasites, he said.
Cooking would have minimized any danger, Kendall added.
A news release issued by B.C.'s Health Ministry yesterday said the RCMP have evidence that some products were handed out by Pickton to friends and acquaintances in the area prior to his arrest in February 2002.
The latest news was yet another devastating blow for relatives of the victims.
Lynn Frey, who was told earlier this year that her daughter Marnie's DNA had been found at the farm, was appalled.
"It's disgusting,'' she said.
"It's absolutely insane. How many people have eaten something from that farm? Even if you did get a pig from that farm seven years ago, you think it's going to still be in your freezer?''
And, Frey added, all the police have indicated is that they have found her daughter's DNA.
"Where the heck's the rest of her body?'' she asked.
She also questioned why there has not been a thorough Canadian Food Inspection Agency investigation of the case.
Marc Richard, a spokesman for the agency, was caught off guard by questions about the possible contamination.
He said he had been told an announcement was planned for release today.
Richard wouldn't comment on the case because it is part of a criminal investigation.
The news release said the RCMP approached the B.C. Centre for Disease Control to inquire about potential health risks for people who may have eaten pork processed or slaughtered at the farm, given the conditions they discovered at the site.
A formal investigation by Kendall, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and officials from Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was launched last Friday.
Officials with the disease control centre said the risk to human health for those who ate the products is "extremely remote'' because pork must always be cooked well, a process that would destroy most infectious agents.
However, under the circumstances, Kendall said he has an obligation to the public under the Health Act to ensure those products are not consumed.
The trial of Pickton, 54, is not expected to begin until late this year or early in 2005.
Police executed a raid on the Pickton farm Feb. 6, 2002.
More than 60 women from Vancouver's gritty downtown Eastside have disappeared since the 1980s. Most were sex-trade workers and drug addicts.
Investigators wrapped up a mass excavation and search of the property, just east of Vancouver, last November.
The charges against Pickton so far are four more than the number admitted to by Canada's most notorious serial killer, Clifford Robert Olson.
Pickton was not associated with the B.C. Hog Marketing Commission or B.C. Pork Producers Association, said Clarence Jensen, a spokesman for the groups.
"None of the processors we sell farmers' hogs through have dealt with this individual,'' he said.
While Pickton may have bought pigs at auction, "we don't know what he did with it,'' Jensen said.
"Obviously they're trying to examine what they think is evidence and not giving a hoot about the industry,'' he explained
Human remains may have been in meat processed for human consumption at a pig farm at the centre of the investigation into Vancouver's missing women, B.C.'s provincial health officer confirmed yesterday.
"We can't rule out the possibility of cross-contamination,'' Dr. Perry Kendall said in an interview.
When asked if cross-contamination meant human remains found their way into meat processed at the infamous farm, Kendall said:
"It's very disturbing to think about, but there's that possibility of some cross-contamination. But the degree of it, or when or how much, we really don't know.
"I think if we could rule it out, we definitely would like to,'' Kendall said.
Robert Pickton faces 15 counts of first-degree murder in the disappearance of women from Vancouver's downtown Eastside.
Police have said they have found human remains and other DNA samples at the farm Pickton owned with his brother and sister near Port Coquitlam, just east of Vancouver.
Kendall has asked anyone who may still have frozen pork products from Pickton's farm to return those products to police.
"As a result of information that we recently received from the RCMP, we have reason to believe that there is a strong possibility that some of the product from the Pickton farms -- and how much the RCMP do not know -- may still be sitting in some people's freezer in the Lower Mainland,'' Kendall later told a news conference in Victoria.
Kendall said Pickton apparently had a habit of slaughtering pigs, wrapping up the meat and distributing it to associates and friends.
The unlicensed slaughter facility was very unsanitary, he said.
"We know from the risk assessment that was conducted by Health Canada that any meat that might remain in people's storage does pose some quantifiable risk to human health,'' Kendall said.
The risks include disease-carrying bacteria and parasites, he said.
Cooking would have minimized any danger, Kendall added.
A news release issued by B.C.'s Health Ministry yesterday said the RCMP have evidence that some products were handed out by Pickton to friends and acquaintances in the area prior to his arrest in February 2002.
The latest news was yet another devastating blow for relatives of the victims.
Lynn Frey, who was told earlier this year that her daughter Marnie's DNA had been found at the farm, was appalled.
"It's disgusting,'' she said.
"It's absolutely insane. How many people have eaten something from that farm? Even if you did get a pig from that farm seven years ago, you think it's going to still be in your freezer?''
And, Frey added, all the police have indicated is that they have found her daughter's DNA.
"Where the heck's the rest of her body?'' she asked.
She also questioned why there has not been a thorough Canadian Food Inspection Agency investigation of the case.
Marc Richard, a spokesman for the agency, was caught off guard by questions about the possible contamination.
He said he had been told an announcement was planned for release today.
Richard wouldn't comment on the case because it is part of a criminal investigation.
The news release said the RCMP approached the B.C. Centre for Disease Control to inquire about potential health risks for people who may have eaten pork processed or slaughtered at the farm, given the conditions they discovered at the site.
A formal investigation by Kendall, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and officials from Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was launched last Friday.
Officials with the disease control centre said the risk to human health for those who ate the products is "extremely remote'' because pork must always be cooked well, a process that would destroy most infectious agents.
However, under the circumstances, Kendall said he has an obligation to the public under the Health Act to ensure those products are not consumed.
The trial of Pickton, 54, is not expected to begin until late this year or early in 2005.
Police executed a raid on the Pickton farm Feb. 6, 2002.
More than 60 women from Vancouver's gritty downtown Eastside have disappeared since the 1980s. Most were sex-trade workers and drug addicts.
Investigators wrapped up a mass excavation and search of the property, just east of Vancouver, last November.
The charges against Pickton so far are four more than the number admitted to by Canada's most notorious serial killer, Clifford Robert Olson.
Pickton was not associated with the B.C. Hog Marketing Commission or B.C. Pork Producers Association, said Clarence Jensen, a spokesman for the groups.
"None of the processors we sell farmers' hogs through have dealt with this individual,'' he said.
While Pickton may have bought pigs at auction, "we don't know what he did with it,'' Jensen said.
"Obviously they're trying to examine what they think is evidence and not giving a hoot about the industry,'' he explained