EU POULTRY INDUSTRIES THROWN INTO CHAOS
BIRD FLU HAS NOW SPREAD TO SIX EU COUNTRIES
A Europe-wide vaccination program for all poultry is now being considered by EU governments, as French farmers demand hundreds of billions of pounds worth of compensation, following the discovery of bird flu in one dead duck near Lyons.
The French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand has insisted on television, in the face of plunging poultry sales, that no commercially farmed birds have been found to be infected with the virus and so it is safe to keep eating eggs, ducks and chicken products.
The powerful chief farmers' union of France has now demanded the government open up access to funds so poultry farmers and producers can help fight the spread of avian influenza.
The EU government has now introduced a 6.5 mile quarantine and surveillance zone around any farms suspected to be infected with bird flu. This applies to poultry, and wild birds that may have be found on a farm. The EU Is now considering an even larger quarantine zone.
France has already announced it will vaccinate some million birds, even though there is no specific vaccine for the H5N1 strain of bird flu. A generic vaccination will be used. But this vaccination program may halt export sales as the initiation of a vaccination program means a country can no longer its poultry is free of disease.
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