{"id":234,"date":"2013-02-10T19:34:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-10T19:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/?page_id=234"},"modified":"2019-01-20T14:43:27","modified_gmt":"2019-01-20T14:43:27","slug":"post-mortem-reports","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/whatliesbeneathrattlechainlagoon.org.uk\/?page_id=234","title":{"rendered":"Post mortem reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

POST MORTEM REPORTS AND THE VLA- NOW KNOWN AS AHVLA<\/b><\/p>\n

The majority of birds seen dead on the pool have not been retrieved due to inaccessibility issues, as Rhodia hold the keys to this closed site. Recovery is entirely dependent on them opening the gates and in many cases putting a boat on the water to pick up carcasses\u00a0 which drift towards the far North embankment. Cost issues have also prevented birds from being post mortemed privately and the majority of examinations have been carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, (VLA), a part of DEFRA as part of the wild bird monitoring scheme. The VLA merged with Animal Health in April 2011 to become the AHVLA.<\/p>\n

\"S2280005\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The VLA had no knowledge of the white phosphorus waste in the rattlechain lagoon sediments\u00a0 prior to being told about it by us. We also had to inform them of the toxic effects of white phosphorus on wildfowl after googling the extensive US studies at Eagle River Flats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that on submitting birds for post mortem in the early part of the 2000’s, the VLA \u00a0were\u00a0 NOT informed by Rhodia during initial post mortem analysis of white phosphorus being present in the rattlechain sediments, nor the substantial chances of this highly toxic substance being the fairly obvious link in their deaths. Nor were they informed of the potential health and safety risks of handling such birds by Rhodia. This is confirmed by Ian Davies from the VLA in a letter dated 13th<\/sup> August 2009<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have not been able to contact all staff at VLA involved with investigation of mortality of birds at Rattlechain pool, but to the best of my knowledge, VLA were not aware of the presence of white phosphorus until advised by yourself.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Following\u00a0our disclosure to them about the potentially toxic and dangerous chemicals on and within carcasses he reveals:<\/p>\n

\u201cHealth and safety aspects have been adopted to minimise any potential exposure to white phosphorus when carrying out post-mortem examination of a carcase. These have included carrying out examinations in a safety cabinet, wearing appropriate protective clothing and placing gizzard unopened into a container for future potential laboratory analysis<\/em>.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Many tests carried out on carcasses were part of the organisations remit and some offered suggestions of cause of death such as “starvation”. \u00a0These conclusions must now be largely\u00a0diregarded due to the unnatural nature of this chemical having not <\/i><\/b>been tested for within these accutely deceased and healthy looking birds.<\/p>\n

Ian Davies was asked what experience VLA staff had in dealing with white phosphorus poisoned birds, given that the chemical was banned as a rat poison in the 1960\u2019s and that this pool is probably unique in the UK- ergo- there are probably very few people in this country who have ever carried out any analysis on wildfowl being poisoned by this chemical; this is quite an important point when official statements on “cause of death” are being recorded or mis-recorded.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI am not aware that any of the VLA staff who carried out post-mortem examinations on these birds have experience of poisoning with white phosphorus. However VLA veterinary staff are trained in post-mortem techniques and regularly carry out post-mortem examinations on a range of species.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

It is therefore unfortunate that the VLA staffs lack of knowledge concerning poisoning of this type has given way to mis-diagnosis of \u201ccause of death\u201d, based on incidental or concurrent findings that they have<\/i> been able to test for.<\/p>\n

The adequacy of their post mortem reports predating the known toxic exposure to white phosphorus that was obviously able to and were taking place, are highly questionable.\u00a0 The fact that their laboratories are unable to test for white phosphorus- meaning that no definitive diagnosis would ever have been made by them<\/i> concerning this chemical should also be noted given that Rhodia were paying them to conduct post mortems that they knew would detect nothing to link it to their toxic waste. To date only\u00a0twelve of the dozens of dead wildfowl seen dead on Rattlechain lagoon have been tested for toxic white phosphorus, all finding it!<\/b><\/p>\n

A discussion of two such examples of mis-diagnosis by the VLA are given below.<\/b><\/p>\n

MISLEADING POST MORTEMS<\/b><\/p>\n

Vla ref no 26-B0063-04-06<\/b>, examined a dead swan from the pool which was collected by DEFRA as part of the avian influenza scheme.<\/p>\n

The swan is described as a \u201c12kg adult male\u201d that was concluded to have died from \u201clead poisoning\u201d even though there was no gross evidence of cause of death.<\/p>\n

We take issue with these findings for the following reasons.<\/p>\n