September 13, 2004

 

 

Vaccination Of Fighting Cocks May Hit Thai Poultry Exports
 

Exporters are calling on the Thai government to revise its plans to use bird-flu vaccines on fighting cocks. There is concern that the move may have negative effects on poultry exports.

 

Vaccination alone has been shown not to work in many developed countries. There are even suspicions that it might cause more virulent strains of the disease to develop, said Kumara Rai, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Bangkok.

 

The government's bird-flu committee will convene from today to make a final decision on the issue.

 

If the vaccine were approved for use, Japan-the largest market for Thai poultry-will be prompted to temporarily halt its imports pending a review of the related import agreement between the two countries, said Anan Sirimongkolkasem, president of the Thai Broiler Processing Exporters Association.

 

Japan made its position on the matter clear during an unofficial discussion between the Thai agricultural attache to Japan and Japanese agricultural authorities, he said. The current agreement regarding poultry products does not cover the use of the bird-flu vaccine.

 

Japan consumes 60 per cent of Thailand's broiler-product exports, generating Bt22 billion in revenue for Thailand each year.

 

Fears of a resurgence of the epidemic would see Japan suspend imports for one or two months at best while it conducted a review, according to Anan.

 

"That would be terrible enough, since the country has just recovered from the first round of bird flu", he said.

 

Since avian flu first appeared in the region, there have been news reports of breeders hiding their fighting cocks to prevent culling. This has triggered fears that the operators of the trade may be responsible for the epidemic's recurrence.

 

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Friday that he had granted permission to use the vaccine on fighting cocks following the recent death of a breeder who reportedly caught the virus from his infected birds.

 

The issue of vaccinating poultry has been heatedly debated in recent months. Breeders of the expensive fighting birds argue strongly for vaccinations to protect their livelihoods, while opponents have claimed that the injections may have dangerous side effects.