February 20, 2004

Vietnam Relaxes Ban On Poultry Sale

Vietnam has lifted a ban on cooked poultry products in an attempt to revive the flailing poultry industry, a ministry official said.

Previously, Vietnam had banned the sale of all poultry products nationwide.

"The decision is necessary to reduce the losses by the chicken farmers," he said.

The government imposed the ban earlier this month to contain bird flu, which has been reported in 57 of the country's 64 provinces.

Among the hardest hit have been small farmers who raise chickens to supplement their income. They weren't forced to slaughter their birds, but were banned from selling them.

Bird flu has claimed the lives of 15 people in Vietnam and seven in Thailand. It has also killed or forced the cull of more than 80 million birds across 10 countries and territories in Asia. Vietnam alone has slaughtered nearly 40 million birds.

However, authorities have no immediate plans to reverse the ban completely.

"We are not going to lift the ban until the outbreak is under control," said an official with the Hanoi People's Committee under condition of anonymity.

Amid hopes that the outbreak is waning, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai has set a target of controlling the disease by month's end. But the World Health Organization has warned that it could take up to two years before the outbreak is brought completely under control.