– I do not think the ministers have been clear about that, he says on Thursday in the Mink Commission.
Asked later, he reiterates that he does not believe that it was included in the material up to the meeting of the government coordination committee that there was no authority to kill all mink.
He also reiterates several times that at the opposite meeting it was not discussed whether there was in fact a legal basis to demand that all mink be killed.
The Coordination Committee is a committee for top ministers in the government, including Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S). It was here that on November 3, it was decided to kill all the mink.
Prior to the meeting, the Statens Serum Institut had issued a new risk assessment of the corona infection in mink.
The finding of the cluster-5 mutation had also aroused concern in the Ministry of Health. It was feared to pose a danger to public health, just as it was considered possible that the mutation could strain the legs of the vaccines that were being worked on.
At the meeting on 3 November, according to Henrik Studsgaard, the Ministry of Health insisted that it was necessary to kill all mink to avoid that risk.
Here Henrik Studsgaard makes a distinction. As for the future of the mink industry, it was clear, according to the head of the department – also for participants in the meeting, whom he does not name – that there was no legal basis.
– As far as the relationship from 2021 onwards is concerned, I think that it has been clear to more people in the room that when we look at a hibernation model and a profession that can be closed down completely or partially, then there are domestic challenges, says he.
But a killing here and now was, according to Studsgaard, a completely different concept and not addressed in the material made for the meeting.
Which leads him to the conclusion that it was not included in the material up to the meeting.
Source: The Nordic Page