February 23, 2009
Philippines ban Belgium and British Columbia poultry imports
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has banned poultry imports from Belgium and the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Agriculture Undersecretary Jesus Emmanuel Paras slapped a temporary ban on the entry of birds, poultry and their products from British Columbia and Belgium to keep the country free of bird flu following official reports from the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) confirming outbreaks of the disease in these areas.
According to the OIE, it has confirmed a bird flu outbreak in a turkey farm in Abbotsford, British Columbia and two such occurrences in a geese breeding farm in Buggenhout, East Flanders and a farm for ornamental birds and poultry in Bocholt, Limburg, which are both in Belgium.
Paras said in his directive that the ban and other emergency measures were necessary to protect human health and the poultry industry in the Philippines, which has remained free of bird flu ever since the H5N1 strain of this virus struck back in Asia six years ago.
The Philippines, along with Brunei and Singapore, are the only bird flu-free countries in Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, Philippines has also posed a ban on cattle import from China when the World Animal Health Organisation announced an outbreak of foot-and-mouth diseases in Chinese provinces in Hebei and Xinjiang.
