North Korea Feathers, Pet Birds Barred From EU Due to Flu
Date: 15-Apr-05
Country: BELGIUM
EU animal health experts added North Korea to its list of eight Asian nations whose poultry exports to the 25-nation bloc are banned until the end of September due to uncertainty that avian flu is under control in the region.
"North Korea is only authorised to export feathers and pet birds to the EU. Therefore the ban de facto only applies to these products," the EU executive said in a statement.
Although the value of imports of North Korean feathers and pet birds to the EU is very limited, the ban was adopted so there is no chance contaminated products can enter the EU, a Commission spokesman told a daily briefing.
The eight countries whose poultry exports to the EU are banned are Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam.
North Korea and South Korea are due to hold talks next week on ways of fighting the bird flu outbreak, which has led Pyongyang to cull more than 210,000 chickens.
A UN expert who visited Pyongyang has said the North was battling the H7 strain, which has yet to be seen in Asia but can cause illness in humans. The H5N1, the other strain that can infect humans, has killed 51 people in Asia.
South Korea believes the outbreaks in the North are extensive. Most of the 25 million birds North Korea produces annually come from huge farms, one of the growing sectors in a country battling severe food shortages.
