Brussels, 21/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - The embargo on imports of pet birds and unprocessed feathers was formally extended on Thursday evening to the European part of the Russian Federation, except for the regions of Mourmansk, Leningrad, Carelia, Saint Petersburg and the Kaliningrad enclave. The standing committee on the food chain and animal health approved the Commission's proposal on Thursday to extend measures banning imports, applied to eastern Siberia since 8 September this year, after it was confirmed on Wednesday that there was an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the region of Toula, to the south of Moscow. The embargo does not concern eggs, poultry meat and other poultry products as the EU does not import from Russia. The Russian agricultural minister, for his part, announced on Thursday that temporary restrictive measures had been taken (from Wednesday although he did not state for how long) on imports of poultry meat, eggs, poultry feed, cages that have been in use and equipment for slaughtering birds from Turkey, where there was an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in the north-west of the country.
In order to prevent wild and migratory birds from transmitting this virus to domestic poultry farms, the standing committee has taken the decision to strengthen hygiene measures, calling on Member States to keep all fowl inside as far as possible especially when they are being fed, and not to use decoys in areas they consider most at risk, in conformity with the common criteria approved by the standing committee last week. Experts also decided to ban birds in large numbers at markets, fairs, shows or cultural events, except with express authorisation. The Member States should present to the Commission by 30 November their plans for vaccination of zoo birds and a ban on sales. These preventive measures should reassure people and avoid the spread of panic as in the Czech Republic where the nests of migratory birds such as swallows and swifts were destroyed, according to AFP.