Originally published October 24 2005
British government plans to implement poultry register
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
In response to a rash of recent outbreaks across Europe, Britain is stepping up plans to create a national register for poultry farmers to register their flocks, in hopes of monitoring bird populations more closely and perhaps improving methods of prevention.
British poultry keepers will be asked to register their flocks on a central database in order to improve surveillance of bird flu, the Environment Secretary said tonight.
Margaret Beckett, Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, said: "The European directive on avian influenza will require us to introduce a poultry register by 2007 but we must move much faster than that.
"This database would be another safeguard to help identify an outbreak but, more importantly, limit its spread.
The European Commission today banned imports of pet birds and feathers from Russia in response to the latest confirmed outbreak of the potentially-lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has been linked to 60 human deaths in South-East Asia.
A Commission spokeswoman said that the Russian ban was prompted by confirmed avian flu cases in hundreds of domestic birds in the county of Tula, near Moscow.
The EU has already banned poultry imports from Turkey, Romania and the Greek island of Chios, near Turkey - although test results have proved negative for the deadly strain so far after an outbreak of avian flu on the island.
National Farmers' Union president Tim Bennett held talks with Tony Blair today about contingency plans to eradicate any cases of bird flu in Britain.
Mr Bennett said: "Those few people in the Far East who have developed avian influenza have been in close contact with infected birds, so it is of paramount importance that we protect the 50,000 people working in our industry."
Precautions could include issuing protective clothing, priority the Tamiflu antiviral drug and advice on minimising contacts with potentially diseased birds.
Defra will issue a one-page guide on avian flu to advise poultry keepers how to reduce the risk of disease, aimed particularly at non-commercial and hobby poultry keepers.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml