Strasbourg, 25/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - European Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou briefed the European Parliament plenary on Tuesday on the measures the European Commission will be taking to ban the import of wild birds in the wake of the UK's first case of infection from the most virulent strain of bird flu, H5N1, after the death in quarantine of a South American parrot imported from Surinam (see EUROPE 9055). Responding to an oral question from Karl-Heinz Florenz (EPP-ED, Germany) on behalf of the European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, on what the European Commission was planning to do to protect public health in the EU and ensure the rapid production and fair distribution of enough new anti-flu virus, the Commissioner made reassuring noises, saying the EU and its Member States are the best prepared in the world against a possible flu epidemic, although things can still be improved to ensure the best protection. Member States have made a lot of progress, and I am delighted to report that we have received 25 preparedness plans, said Kyprianou. He admitted that some plans were still at the early stages of preparation but said it was not for the Commission to mark them or establish a league table. Flu vaccines are not a panacea (they do not work preventatively), but the Commissioner said they would be the first weapon if the virus mutates. 20 Member States have started stock piling flu vaccines and the Commission is urging Member States to vaccinate people working in high risk areas, especially farmers. The global production capacity for the flu jab is currently only 300 million doses a year, according to WHO estimates, and the United Kingdom alone is in the process of ordering 120 million doses, pointed out British EPP-ED MEP John Bowis. The Commissioner said economic incentives were needed for pharmaceutical companies to get them to increase production. He said he was working with the European Medicines Agency and the drugs industry to speed up the discovery of a new vaccine (in the next 3 to 6 months) for when the human form of the virus has been identified. Optimistically, the Commissioner said some drugs companies had started working with the European Medicines Agency and he was certain others would be following suit. Above all, MEPs wanted the Commission to be as transparent as possible in its information to avoid creating panic in general public. Maria Sornosa Martinez (PES, Spain) said the slaughter of birds must not be turned into a disgusting media event. The Commissioner pledged not to withhold information, which would only feed public fear, warning that people had to be realistic because there would be more cases of infected animals. To build up an EU stock of flu vaccine, the Commission needs a mandate from the Council, but French MEP Francoise Grossetete (UMP) urged the European Commission to be firm with the Member States and override some of its powers in the name of public health. You will never be criticised, she said, for saving lives but you will be violently condemned for not doing enough. Various MEPs called on the Commission to release Solidarity Fund money and increase aid to developing countries in Africa and south-east Asia (soon to be visited by Commissioner Kyprianou).