February 5, 2007

Philippines bans poultry from Japan

The Philippines has banned temporarily imports of live birds and poultry from Japan due to alarm over bird flu epidemic, said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap on February 4.

Yap said the ban was necessary to protect human health and the poultry industry in the Philippines, which has remained free of bird flu ever since the H5N1 virus strain re-emerged in Asia in 2003.

The ban was based on a January 13 report submitted by the Japanese government to the international watchdog, Office International des Epizooties (OIE), attesting to the presence of a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu AI (avian influenza) virus in Japan.

Yap said there is a possibility that travellers may bring in pet birds, poultry and poultry products from Japan, thus, the department's mandate to confiscate all Japanese poultry products entering airports and seaports.

Yap said the ban covers all domestic and wild birds and their products, including day-old chicks, eggs and semen from Japan.

He also ordered the immediate suspension of the issuance of veterinary quarantine clearances to all imports covering these products from Japan.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported last week that 164 out of 270 people infected with the AI virus have died since the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 1993 and then spread across the rest of the continent as well as Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The Philippines, Singapore and Brunei are the only bird flu-free countries in Southeast Asia.