January 28, 2004

Sri Lanka Plan Bird Flu Prevention Measures

Sri Lankan government and poultry industry officials held an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss further measures to prevent an outbreak of bird flu, which is ravaging farms elsewhere in Asia.

The talks between agricultural officials, industry representatives and poultry farmers follow Sri Lanka's move to ban all imports of live chicken and poultry products.

"We will discuss the need for all farmers to be vigilant about any signs of the disease and fatalities among poultry stocks," said D. D. Wanasinghe, chairman of the All Island Poultry Association.

So far, 10 governments have reported some strain of bird flu: China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Tens of millions of chicken and other poultry have been infected in recent weeks, prompting the slaughter of chickens across the region in a bid to contain the virus. At least 10 people have died in Thailand and Vietnam from the virus.

Wanasinghe acknowledged the import ban would be a "fairly big setback" for the industry.

Sri Lanka imports chicken products amounting to $123,000 a year, and produces an average of 60,000 tons of chicken annually.