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VICTORIA – Following new information from the RCMP, B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall is calling on anyone who may still possess frozen pork meat products from the Port Coquitlam farm of Robert Pickton, to return those products to police.
Dr. Kendall says RCMP approached the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) to inquire about potential health risks for individuals who may have consumed pork meat processed or slaughtered at the farm, given the conditions they discovered at the site.
On Friday, March 5 the Provincial Health Officer, in close cooperation with the BCCDC and senior officials at Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency launched a formal assessment of the risk to any individuals who have been exposed to food-borne or other illness through the consumption of the products.
While a more detailed risk assessment continues, health officials have stressed there is no evidence of any disease transmission related to products from the farm. BCCDC officials have added the risk to human health for those who consumed the products is extremely remote, based on the fact most pork products are typically well cooked, which is known to effectively destroy most infectious agents. However, Dr. Kendall says under the circumstances, he has an obligation to the public under the Health Act to ensure those products are not consumed.
The RCMP have evidence that some products were handed out by Mr. Pickton to friends and acquaintances in and around the Lower Mainland, prior to his arrest in February 2002. The alert is focussed on these individuals.
Anyone who may still have frozen products from the Pickton farm is asked to contact the Missing Women’s Task Force at 1-877-687-3377. Those individuals who may have consumed products in the past and who have health questions or concerns are urged to contact either their family physician or the B.C. Nurseline at 1-866-215-4700.
Dr. Kendall will be available to talk with the media at 4:30 p.m. today at the Press Theatre, Legislature, Victoria. -30-
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