Help stop the spread of bird flu: tell UC Davis to address the burnout and retention crisis at CAHFS!
UPTE-represented workers at the California Animal Health & Food Safety Lab System (CAHFS) are raising the alarm about severe understaffing and unsafe conditions that jeopardize critical testing for diseases like Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1). Please RSVP to join our informational picket line and support these essential workers in protecting the health and safety of our communities.
UPTE members at CAHFS are raising concerns about severe understaffing and unsafe working conditions that jeopardize their critical role in testing for diseases like Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1).
After five out of seven lab workers quit since January due to inadequate compensation and a lack of support, the timely and accurate monitoring of our nation's food supply is at risk, potentially leading to catastrophic outbreaks affecting poultry and human health. Your support is crucial in urging CAHFS management to address these issues and protect the health and safety of our communities.
Workers are sounding the alarm on:
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To perform the necessary tests in an accurate and timely manner, CAHFS must maintain appropriate staffing. When fully staffed, the team responsible for monitoring avian flu infections should include seven members, including a supervisor, staff research associates (SRAs) of various levels, and a lab assistant. Since January 2024, five of the lab’s seven workers have left the unit, most of whom have five years or more experience. That left two SRAs on staff with two or fewer years of experience as the most senior diagnosticians in the section.
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Experts widely see testing failures as a key contributor to the fast spread of zoonotic pathogens like avian flu and COVID-19. Preventing delays in the rollout of testing procedures is crucial for biocontainment. A functioning laboratory must have enough staff to perform timely tests and quality control to ensure the accuracy of those tests.
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Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (HPAI or, in this instance, also referred to as “H5N1” or “avian flu”) has a mortality rate between 90 and 100 percent for infected poultry and has already been detected in twelve states and 114 dairy herds as of June 2024. Over one million birds were recently euthanized in Sonoma County alone, adding to an estimated three million across the state in 2024. The 2015 outbreak of avian influenza saw the federal government spend nearly $1 billion in mitigation and clean-up costs, as well as financial restitution for producers. The cost to industry of that outbreak has been estimated at over $3 billion. The current outbreak has already contributed to the volatile price of eggs, which spiked in early 2023 and is on the rise again.
The risk of transmission to humans is currently considered low, but proper surveillance testing is key to reducing that risk. Precautions like testing, pasteurization, the diversion of contaminated products, and the culling of infected flocks help further mitigate the risk of spread. According to the National Institutes of Health, however, viruses including H5N1 are, “...constantly mutating and evolving segmented viruses, [and] there is a need for global surveillance to track and monitor genetic and epidemiological changes associated with the novel, or circulating influenza viruses that may affect man and poultry.”The World Health Organization has expressed worry due to H5N1’s “extraordinarily high” mortality rate in humans. From 2003 to 2016, H5N1 infected 800 people and killed more than half of those individuals.