Sector organizations file complaint with university

The Producers Organization Pig Farming (POV) and the poultry farmers' organizations LTO/NOP and NVP have filed a complaint with the Scientific Integrity Committee of the University of Twente. According to the organizations, the university is wrongly accusing the Dutch pig and poultry farming sector.

On January 8, the university published the press release 'More risk of zoonosis in the Netherlands than we think'. According to the organizations, this report puts pig and poultry farmers in a bad light by drawing firm conclusions about the development of zoonoses in livestock farming and the perception of the Dutch about it. While the investigation has not been completed and published. "This is contrary to the scientific integrity that universities should strive for," according to the organizations.

The case was raised on February 18 by the Agrifacts Foundation (Staf). Staff demanded that the university amend the press release. The university placed a statement on its website in which she states that the substantiation of the research is indeed correct. According to the university, the approach and quality of the work were also approved by the ethics committee and the findings were presented at a scientific conference. According to POV, NVP and LTO/NOP, the university has also Staff, however, insufficiently supplied the substantiation of the press release.

Basic complaint
The first part of the complaint is that the message published on the University of Twente website concerns an investigation that has not yet been completed and published. Second, the interviewees would not be representative. "A large group of Dutch people would have been questioned. In reality, it was a group of 167 people, including a relatively large number of students from the university itself and women."

Also, according to the organizations, the university cannot substantiate that zoonoses arise in intensive livestock farming. "It is well known that the pathogens come from the wild fauna."

Linda van Eekeres

Linda van Eekeres is co-writing editor-in-chief. She mainly focuses on macro-economic developments and the influence of politics on the agricultural sector.

l.vaneekeres@boerenbusiness. Nl

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