DA lifts ban on poultry imports from Canadian province

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Agriculture (DA) on Wednesday said it has lifted the temporary ban on importation of birds and poultry products from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. DA Secretary Arthur Yap lifted the ban after an evaluation by the Bureau of Animal Industry showed that "the risk from contamination from importing poultry products from Saskatchewan, Canada is negligible." The lifting of the ban came a day after a Saskatchewan Labor official said job opportunities await some 5,000 to 12,000 Filipinos in Saskatchewan in the next five years owing to the province's booming economy. Sasketchawan is in western Canada and near the US states of Montana and North Dakota. In a memorandum order, Yap cited the final report by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), or the Animal Health Organization, saying that "90 days have elapsed without any evidence of the highly pathogenic avian influenza since the cleaning and disinfection of infected premises" conducted in the province. 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 avian influenza virus. Earlier, the DA also lifted the ban on the entry of birds, poultry and its products from the European countries of Germany and Italy after the OIE had declared them free of the avian influenza virus. The Philippines currently imposes a ban on imports of birds, poultry and its products from, among others, Korea , Saudi Arabia , Poland and the western African country of Benin to protect human health and the poultry industry in the Philippines . The Philippines has remained free of bird flu ever since the H5N1 strain of this virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003. It is one of only three avian influenza-free countries in Southeast Asia - the two others being Brunei and Singapore. As of mid-May this year, the World Health Organization reported that 241 out of 382 people found in laboratory-confirmed cases to have been infected with the avian influenza virus have died since the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus resurfaced in Southeast Asia in 2003 and then spread across the rest of the continent, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In the nearby Asian country of Indonesia, out of the 133 cases confirmed to date, 108 have been fatal, according to WHO data. - Cheryl Arcibal, GMANews.TV