RP lifts ban on bird imports from Germany, Japan
09/01/2009 | 04:31 PM
Importation of birds and poultry from Germany and Japan may now resume, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said on Tuesday.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said he lifted the ban based on findings of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) of the World Animal Health Organization showing the absence of the avian influenza virus in these countries.
With the restrictions removed, domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks and semen can now be brought in from the two countries.
Yap said in separate memorandum orders that based on the evaluation of the Philippine Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the risk of contamination from importing poultry and poultry products from Germany and Japan is already "negligible."
In a press statement, the DA said the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the OIE sets a three-month period before a country can regain its bird flu-free status after conducting a stamping-out campaign to eradicate birds infected with the AI virus.
Since the H5N1 strain of the AI virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 2003, the DA has stepped up its watch on the entry of foreign birds, thus making Philippines one of only three countries in the region that is AI-free. The two others are Brunei and Singapore .
As of the end of August, the WHO reported that 262 out of 438 people found in laboratory-confirmed cases to have been infected with AI have died since 2003. The virus has spread across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In Indonesia , out of the 141 cases confirmed to date, 115 have been fatal, according to WHO data. Thailand has reported 17 deaths out of 25 cases; China , 25; and Vietnam , 56.
To combat the AI virus, the DA launched its Avian Influenza Protection Program, mobilizing town-level task forces and holding preparedness and response trainings.
It has also upgraded facilities at the Philippine Animal Health Center (PAHC) and regional Animal Diagnostic Laboratories, and procured personal protective equipment and strengthening its border and quarantine control procedures. - Nadezhda Taňola, GMANews.TV
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said he lifted the ban based on findings of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) of the World Animal Health Organization showing the absence of the avian influenza virus in these countries.
With the restrictions removed, domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day-old chicks and semen can now be brought in from the two countries.
Yap said in separate memorandum orders that based on the evaluation of the Philippine Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the risk of contamination from importing poultry and poultry products from Germany and Japan is already "negligible."
In a press statement, the DA said the Terrestrial Animal Health Code of the OIE sets a three-month period before a country can regain its bird flu-free status after conducting a stamping-out campaign to eradicate birds infected with the AI virus.
Since the H5N1 strain of the AI virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 2003, the DA has stepped up its watch on the entry of foreign birds, thus making Philippines one of only three countries in the region that is AI-free. The two others are Brunei and Singapore .
As of the end of August, the WHO reported that 262 out of 438 people found in laboratory-confirmed cases to have been infected with AI have died since 2003. The virus has spread across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In Indonesia , out of the 141 cases confirmed to date, 115 have been fatal, according to WHO data. Thailand has reported 17 deaths out of 25 cases; China , 25; and Vietnam , 56.
To combat the AI virus, the DA launched its Avian Influenza Protection Program, mobilizing town-level task forces and holding preparedness and response trainings.
It has also upgraded facilities at the Philippine Animal Health Center (PAHC) and regional Animal Diagnostic Laboratories, and procured personal protective equipment and strengthening its border and quarantine control procedures. - Nadezhda Taňola, GMANews.TV
