posted on February 25, 2004 12:08:32 PM new
Mexico can close the border to chickens but not illegal border crossings by humans ?
Mexico Closes Borders to All U.S. Poultry
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico closed its borders to all poultry imports from the United States on Tuesday, a day after a Texas chicken flock was diagnosed with an extremely infectious and fatal form of bird flu.
Mexico's agriculture ministry said in a statement the ban, effective immediately, affects live poultry as well as processed products.
"As of today, Feb. 24, the Agriculture Ministry (Sagarpa) prohibits the import of tourist (private consumption) and commercial poultry from and coming from the United States, of live birds, their products and subproducts," the ministry said.
The full ban on U.S. chicken imports comes on the heels of escalating Mexican precautions in recent weeks as more U.S. states discovered less contagious forms of bird flu.
Last week Mexico, which says it has the highest sanitary controls and norms on poultry production in the world, banned poultry product imports from Canada's western province of British Columbia after avian flu was detected on a chicken farm there.
Since 2002, Mexico has had its borders closed to poultry imports from North Carolina, Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Texas, California and Connecticut. Delaware and New Jersey were added this month.
Chicken is a staple in Mexican dishes, ranging from fajitas to elaborate spicy stews.
Avian influenza is classified into two categories -- low pathogenic and high pathogenic -- based on the severity of the illness to the infected bird, according to animal health scientists.
The bird flu discovered in the Texas chicken flock on Monday was the stronger of two scientific categories of avian bird flu, but it is not as deadly as the strain devastating Asian poultry, according to animal health experts.
It was the first U.S. outbreak in 20 years of a serious form of the virus that can kill large numbers of poultry.
Asia is reeling from a high pathogenic form of bird flu, which has jumped the species barrier and killed at least 22 people. Federal health officials said the Texas infection was unrelated and was unlikely to spread to humans.
The Texas strain of bird flu is H5N2. The form of bird flu in Asia is H5N1.
The virus is easily spread by manure, farm equipment, cars, crates, clothing and shoes. Just one gram of contaminated manure can contain enough virus to potentially infect 1 million birds, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites) data.
In the Texas case, officials have already destroyed 6,600 broiler chickens on the infected farm to try to halt the disease. Other flocks within a 10-mile radius are being tested.
posted on February 25, 2004 02:14:38 PM new
Are you REALLY asking this question? Is it honestly that hard to figure out?
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
