The European Union appear set to slap a global ban on imports of pet birds into Europe, amid rising alarm over the growing avian influenza threat from Asia. EU veterinary experts in Brussels are studying proposals for an initial one-month ban on imports of pet birds such as parrots and other exotic species from the rest of the world.
Their meeting in Brussels came as EU farm ministers also mulled the latest worrying developments, including a new outbreak in China and a fourth death in Indonesia.
"We want to ensure that all member states are satisfactorily prepared," EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
The 25-nation EU has bolstered its defences against bird flu after the H5N1 lethal strain of the virus, which has killed over 60 people in Asia, was found in Turkey and Romania.
The sense of urgency was heightened further when British authorities confirmed at the end of last week that a parrot which died while in quarantine was infected with the deadly Asian strain.
In the latest attempt to stop the disease spreading the European Commission on Tuesday confirmed an EU ban on live poultry imports from Croatia, after a second outbreak occured there this week.
But more broadly the British parrot incident has spurred the EU to consider the ban on the import of birds to be sold as pets.
The EU's Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, which groups veterinary experts from all EU member states, was expected to announce their decision on the ban later Monday.
The EU's executive commission appeared confident that its proposals would be accepted -- in particular after they received the backing of Britain, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.
If agreed, birds could not be imported commercially to be used as pets although they could be brought in by individuals as their personal pets.
Under the commission's proposal, individuals could only import five birds as pets and would have to provide certificates proving that the birds were not infected.
"We feel that the main risk is through commercial imports, which are large scale imports," commission spokesman Philip Tod said. About 232,000 pet and exotic birds have been imported into the EU over the past three months.
Tod said that the commission had been hesitant to propose such a ban out of fear that it could prompt the emergence of black market but that it had changed its position in reaction to the rapid spread of bird flu in eastern Europe.
If the ban is confirmed, it would mark the latest EU action to try to halt the spread of bird flu after the series of outbreaks on the EU's eastern flank.
Health experts fear that a lethal strain of bird flu may at some stage jump the species barrier in Europe and mix with normal influenza genes to create a pandemic that would be difficult to control.
In other bird flu developments in Europe Tuesday:
- France imposed a ban on the outdoor rearing of poultry across about one quarter of the country.
- Sweden said it will limit doctors' access to stocks of Tamiflu amid fears that frenzied stockpiling ahead of a possible bird flu pandemic could wipe out the country's supply of the drug.
-The EU commission said initial EU tests have not shown bird flu to be present in Macedonia, although further checks were needed to be sure.
- Portuguese authorities said they were testing the bodies of 17 geese and seagulls to see whether the birds died of avian flu.
EU health commissioner Kyprianou said in Strasbourg that all EU member states had put forward emergency plans to deal with outbreaks although some were still at the draft stage.
"I have to admit that some preparedness plans are not in their final versions. They are provisional versions," he said.
