Two former Canadian Food Inspection Agency researchers face charges involving the unsafe transportation of pathogens that can cause brucellosis.
The RCMP have charged former CFIA scientists Klaus Nielsen and Wei Ling Yu with breach of trust by a public officer following a criminal investigation that also involved the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
The criminal investigation, nicknamed Project Sentimental, began after the CFIA contacted RCMP in March of 2011.
The investigation focused on alleged efforts by Nielsen and Yu to commercialize intellectual property belonging to the CFIA and a private commercial partner.
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Last October, RCMP and Ottawa police say they intercepted Nielsen as he was heading to the Ottawa airport.
The former CFIA scientist was arrested, searched and found in possession of 17 vials containing live pathogens that he was attempting to export in an unsafe manner.
The vials were confiscated, analyzed by PHAC and found to contain live brucella bacteria that can infect humans and livestock.
Nielsen faces one charge under the Criminal Code and several others under the Export and Import Permits Act, the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and the Human Pathogens and Toxins Act.
He is scheduled to appear in court April 17 in Ottawa.
RCMP have also issued a Canada wide warrant for Yu.
Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can be spread from animals to humans.
There are several kinds of brucellosis including bovine brucellosis, which affects cattle, bison and elk, porcine brucellosis, which affects pigs, and ovine brucellosis, which affects goats and sheep.
According to the CFIA website, the disease is present to some degree in most countries of the world, although Canada’s livestock is believed to be free of the disease.
Canada initiated an eradication program for bovine brucellosis in livestock in the 1940s and the country’s livestock herd was declared free of the disease in 1985.
Several isolated cases were subsequently identified, with the last known case occurring in a cattle herd in Saskatchewan in 1989, according to the CFIA.
The brucellosis-free status of Canadian livestock is maintained by a series of measures aimed at limiting the movement of brucellosis pathogens, detecting infected animals as early as possible through surveillance, and thoroughly investigating all suspected cases of the disease that are reported to CFIA.
Confirmed infections found in livestock are controlled through the mandatory slaughter of all infected and exposed animals.
Brucellosis is a reportable disease in Canada, meaning any suspected cases must be reported to the CFIA.
In 2003, Nielsen was one of six CFIA researchers recognized for developing a rapid, on-site test for detecting brucellosis in cattle.
An American company, Diachemix, manufactured and licensed the test.
CFIA officials were not immediately available to comment on the case.
