March 12, 2004

Philippines To Ban Poultry From Maryland On Bird Flu

The Philippines is set to issue an import ban on poultry products from the U.S. state of Maryland which confirmed an outbreak of the bird flu virus early this week, a senior government official said Friday.
 
Agriculture Undersecretary for Livestock, Cesar Drilon, said the department is preparing a memorandum order to formalize the ban.
 
"The import ban is already effective. Signing (by Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo) of the memorandum order is just a matter of formality," Drilon told Dow Jones Newswires.
 
The Philippines earlier this year issued import bans on poultry products from three other U.S. states that confirmed bird flu outbreaks: Texas, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
 
The Philippines remains free of the bird flu virus, which has hit ten other countries in Asia.
 
The U.S. is a major supplier of the Philippines' imported poultry products. The Bureau of Animal Industry, however, said it couldn't immediately verify whether the Philippines actually imports any poultry products from Maryland.