Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: South Korea, Hong Kong join UK poultry ban

South Korea, Hong Kong join UK poultry ban
POSTED: 0507 GMT (1307 HKT), February 6, 2007 
Story Highlights• NEW: South Korea to cull or return more than 3,600
quarantined ducks
• NEW: Hong Kong suspension of UK imports to occur immediately, official
says
• Nearly 160,000 birds gassed at a poultry farm in eastern England
• The virus has killed at least 165 people worldwide since 2003 
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SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) -- South Korea and Hong Kong said on Tuesday
they had joined a growing list of countries banning British poultry due to
the country's first outbreak of a deadly strain of bird flu in domestic
poultry.
Russia and Japan have already banned imports, and the Financial Times
reported that South Africa and Indonesia had followed suit.
South Korea imported about $3 million in poultry products from Britain
last year. It will either cull or return 3,645 ducks imported for breeding
that it had in quarantine in the country, the agriculture ministry said.
South Korea's major poultry import from Britain has been live ducks for
breeding.
"We're not sure yet if the United Kingdom may face more bird flu
outbreaks," said an official at the agriculture ministry.
Hong Kong, which imported 11,400 tonnes of British poultry and poultry
products in the first 10 months of last year, announced late Monday it
would suspend the imports with immediate effect, an official said.
Britain culled almost 160,000 turkeys on Monday after discovery of the
highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian flu on a farm in eastern England
run by Europe's largest turkey producer, Bernard Matthews. (What what
British farmers are doing to protect their poultry )
Farm workers were offered anti-viral drugs, and restrictions were imposed
on the way birds are housed or moved in a wide area surrounding the farm.
The outbreak had an immediate impact on Britain's poultry industry, the
second largest in the European Union after France.
The European Union's top health official said he was optimistic the bloc
would be able to control bird flu this year despite outbreaks of the H5N1
strain in Britain and Hungary.
But EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Markos Kyprianou added: "The
virus is still around. We should never feel that we are safe."
The H5N1 virus has spread into the Middle East, Africa and Europe since it
reemerged in Asia in 2003 and outbreaks have now been detected in birds in
around 50 countries.
It remains largely an animal disease but can kill people who come into
close contact with infected birds. It has killed 165 people over the past
four years, a 22-year-old woman in Nigeria being the latest confirmed
victim.
Sixty-three people have been killed in Indonesia, the country worst
affected.
Scientists fear the virus could spark a pandemic in which millions die if
it mutates into a form that passes easily from person to person.
Many countries are testing plans to deal with a flu pandemic should the
virus develop into a more dangerous form.
Japan, which has had four outbreaks of H5N1 at poultry farms this year but
no human cases, held a drill on Monday to test its preparations.
Scientists and veterinary experts reassured the public that food on sale
in Britain was safe and that the risk of transmission of the disease to
humans was extremely low.
British experts were trying to find out how the turkeys became infected.
If wild birds were to blame for spreading the virus, Britain may face
further bird flu outbreaks, leading virologist Nigel Dimmock of England's
Warwick University said. 
Supermarket chains Asda, Morrison and J. Sainsbury said they had not seen
a dip in poultry sales.
"Customers have seen this happen a couple of times before. They are quite
knowledgeable and savvy and know this is categorically not a food safety
issue," a Sainsbury spokeswoman said.
-- 
Qultura politica di Tonibaruch su It.Politica.Internazionale :
Tonibaruch: "Chomsky... uno svitato filonazista"
http://groups.google.it/group/it.politica.internazionale/msg/4fcafdb551331642?dmode=source&hl=3Dit
 
Tonibaruch: "Hai per caso uno sfogo purulento tutto capillari e siero
presso il buco del culo e il cazzo di coniglio tutto raggrinzito e a
chiazze che ti macchia le mutande e la braghetta?"
http://groups.google.it/group/it.politica.internazionale/msg/1f324d4f5a1c4d94?dmode=source&hl=it
Tonibaruch: Mentre amalric si occupa della signora, tu a chi lo suchi? Ah.
un'altra domanda. Fai anche il crempie?
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 PS Oche e Cigni in UK svernano dalla Russia...
sto Putin, ne sa una piu' del diavolo...
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 Si capace che prima avesse mandato il Polonio...
certamente. ne ha sparso anche un po' per il pincio. Attento dove poggi il
butt quando sei in attesa del prossimo nazi che ti trafficherà.
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