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Bird Flu - Stop this deadly food swap

13th February 2007

For immediate release

BRITAIN must halt all imports and exports of poultry products, live birds and hatching eggs to prevent the risk of further outbreaks of bird 'flu.

Green party members in Bristol have been shocked by the revelation that poultry meat has been shifted backwards and forwards across Europe between countries with outbreaks of bird flu.

Tess Green, of Southville, said

"Tonnes of poultry products are regularly "swapped" between the UK and Hungary.  Eggs are sent from the UK to Hungary, the chicks are reared and slaughtered there, the slaughtered turkeys are sent back to the UK for extraction of the breast meat - and the rest is then returned to Hungary for manufacture into turkey sausages.  

This is a completely unnecessary trade - and it poses serious risks by allowing the spread of the potentially deadly H5N1 virus. We're fully behind the appeal by Caroline Lucas MEP for a stop to this absurd and dangerous practice" she said.

The Green Party Euro-MP has written urgently to the Commission calling for an immediate change to EU trade rules, to protect farmers in the UK and other member states from the spread of the virus.

Tess Green continued:
""We must produce food locally wherever possible - both to cut out the environmental damage and CO2 emissions produced by transporting thousands of tonnes of food across the globe and to protect ourselves from potentially deadly diseases such as bird 'flu - which, if it mutates to a form that is transmissible from human to human, could cause the deaths of millions across the globe.

At the same time, we must halt the cruel and inhumane factory farming methods which are creating the perfect conditions for the mutation, infection and spread of animal diseases in the first place."

ENDS

Notes:

1. Tess Green is the Green Party candidate for Southville in the May elections. More here
2. Dr. Caroline Lucas is the Green Party MEP for South East England. Last year she published 'Avian 'Flu - Time to shut the intensive poultry 'flu factories'? In 2001 her report "Stopping the Great Food Swap", recorded how Britain was "swapping" thousands of tonnes of poultry meat, pork and lamb with a number of different EU member states, at enormous environmental cost. Both are available at www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk
3. On BBC Farming Today on February 10th Professor Sir David King, the Government's senior scientific advisor, noted that the problem is compounded because we could be importing poultry products from countries before we know they are infected. Here the interview in full at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/farmingtoday/

Contact:

Tess Green, Tel. 0117 985 2795
Peter Goodwin (Green Party Press Officer) 01275 543280