. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/608 
8 December 2005 
 
 (05-5792) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   Spanish 
  
 
 
NEWCASTLE DISEASE – BRAZILIAN EXPERIENCE IN 
CERTIFYING FLOCKS DISEASE FREE 
 
Communication from Brazil
 
 
  The following communication, received on 2 D ecember 2005, is being circulated at the 
request of the delegation of Brazil.  
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  1. Thanks to the joint efforts by producers and government bodies to implement sanitary 
measures, in 2003 Brazil was able to declare free of  Newcastle disease the industrial poultry flocks of 
nine of its States, namely:  Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Sa o Paulo, Minas Gerais, 
Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso and the Federal District. 
2. This declaration was made possible by five years without a single occurrence of the disease in 
the production units of those States and a rigorous se roepidemiological study to evaluate the activity 
of the Newcastle disease virus in industrial poultry flocks. 
3. The strict application of the diagnosis t echniques recommended by the World Organization 
for Animal Health (OIE) enabled Brazil, in additio n, to communicate the new sanitary status of its 
industrial poultry flocks to that Organization. 
4. The nine States whose poultry flocks were certif ied together cover appr oximately 40 per cent 
of the Brazilian territory, account for the bulk of  the country's production, and exported almost 
100 per cent of the volume of poultry products in 2004. 
5. Worth noting is the absence of any avian influen za virus activity in the industrial flocks of 
those States and the negative results of the inves tigations for Newcastle disease and avian influenza 
viruses in migrating birds conducted jointly by th e Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food 
Supply (MAPA), the Ministry of Health (MS), and the Ministry of the Environment (MA) in the main areas concerned by migration in Brazil. 
6. This Brazilian declaration rewarded Brazilian producers for their expenditure or equipment 
and handling technology applied to poultry hea lth.  The development of the productive sector 
contributed to the increase in the health sta ndards and safety of the Brazilian product already 
recognized by a number of countries before Brazil had made its declaration.  At the end of 2002, 
Brazil was already exporting frozen poultry meat to 87 countries. 
7. In addition to the high genetics and advanced technology used, other factors, such as the 
abundant grain harvests (soya beans and maize), help ed to reduce the cost of poultry meat production 
in Brazil, and contributed to the increase in produc tivity and hence the increase in exports.  Thus, it is G/SPS/GEN/608 
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 impossible to establish a direct correlation between the declaration of Newcastle disease free flocks 
and the historical increase in Brazilian exports. 
8. However, after declaring the poultry flocks of  nine States free from Newcastle disease, Brazil 
ended the Year 2003 with 111 countries importing fr ozen poultry meat.  This represents a 27.5 per 
cent increase in the number of importing countries as compared to 2002.  Since 1999, there had been 
no comparable growth in the number of countries importing from Brazil. 
9. With respect to the quantity of whole poultr y exported, there was an average increase of 
16.09 per cent during the years from 1998 to 2002, while the increase in quantities exported in 2003 
as compared to 2002 was 18.34 per cent, and in  2004 as compared to 2003, 22.12 per cent. 
10. As regards total exports of poultry products, growth rates varied during the period from 
1998 to 2002, alternating between pe riods of considerable expansion and periods of negative growth.  
Thus, the average annual growth in the quantities exported during that period was 0.57 per cent.  
However, the figure for 2003 shows a 25.81 per cen t growth over 2002, and the figure for 2004 again 
shows a 26.14 per cent growth over 2003. 
11. In spite of the sanitary status of the Braz ilian industrial poultry popul ation, certain major 
importing countries impose restrictions on Brazilian  poultry meat in connection with Newcastle 
disease.  A closer look at these restrictions reveals th e failure to bring sanitary requirements into line 
with OIE recommendations, and above all, the failure to recognize equivalent sanitary measures.  It 
should be noted that the lack of OIE recommendations  applicable to the reco gnition of zones free of 
this disease makes the bilateral negotiations for access  to international markets more difficult, and 
considerably more subjective.  For the purposes of establishing international standards applicable to 
the recognition of zones free of Newcastle disease, the absence of any contact between birds in the 
industrial production system and other birds present in the territory needs to be taken into consideration.  
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