EU Bans Bird Imports From Russia, Kazakhstan

8 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The European Union's Executive Commission today called on its member countries to ban imports of birds and bird products from Russia and Kazakhstan as of 12 August, due to outbreaks of bird flu in the two countries.

Russia and Kazakhstan have joined a list of nine Asian states that are banned from exporting birds or bird products into the EU.

Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, North Korea, Pakistan, Thailand, and Vietnam have all been banned from importing to the EU because of previous avian-flu outbreaks in their territories.

Russian Health Ministry officials today said that no humans have been infected by the bird-flu outbreak in Russia.

(AFP/Reuters)

See also:

Outbreak Of Bird Flu Confirmed In Siberia