CHINA bans poultry Imports

[BuffHello]

China bans poultry imports from 14 countries

 

Wed Nov 2,10:49 AM ET

 

BEIJING (AFP) - China banned poultry imports from 14 countries in a bid to fight bird flu, as drug maker Roche said it was talking with Shanghai Pharmaceutical about producing the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu.

 

 

The import ban on poultry products, announced by the ministries of commerce and agriculture and other agencies, took immediate effect and will stay in force until the government explicitly announces it has been lifted.

 

In a separate move, China allocated two billion yuan (25 million dollars) to boost bird flu prevention measures, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported late Wednesday.

 

The money was allocated after Premier Wen Jiabao held an executive meeting of the State Council, China's cabinet, Xinhua reported. Some of the money would be spent on a new headquarters to oversee prevention measures and combat future outbreaks.

 

The ban on imports and the boosted funding were the latest in a series of measures announced by China since three recent avian flu outbreaks in birds -- in the northern region of Inner Mongolia and in Anhui and Hunan provinces.

 

The ban was necessary "to prevent the spreading of bird flu or other serious animal disease outbreaks, and to protect people's health and the safety of China's farm industry", said a statement on the commerce ministry website.

 

Exports hit by the ban are from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Japan,

North Korea, Romania, Croatia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Mongolia, Turkey, Russia and Sweden.

 

China has already banned the sale, transportation and consumption of animals and birds that die of unknown illnesses and is offering rewards for reports of sudden animal or bird deaths.

 

So far there have been no human deaths in China from the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus which has killed more than 60 people in Asia since 2003.

 

However, both the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation have said they would not be surprised if human infections were found and cautioned it was premature to say bird flu was under control.

 

Conscious a pandemic among its 1.3 billion people would be disastrous, Chinese authorities have begun negotiations with Swiss drug firm Roche about producing Tamiflu, believed to be the most effective defense against bird flu.

 

Xu Chao, a spokeswoman for Roche in Shanghai, told AFP the company was talking with China's largest drugmaker Shanghai Pharmaceutical.

 

"They have submitted a verbal application and we are helping them to communicate with our headquarters in Switzerland," Xu said. "The talks are continuing and it will depend on how they go."

 

Huang Yazheng, president of Shanghai Pharmaceutical, told the official China Daily that the company was preparing for Roche's evaluation of its facilities and that results would be in known in "two to three weeks".

 

Approval would make Shanghai Pharmaceutical the first Chinese company to manufacture the drug under license from the Swiss giant that so far has kept a tight rein on licensing agreements to make the sought-after drug.

 

With global supply of Tamiflu tight, Roche has come under criticism for not moving to loosen its patent rights and allow more drug makers access to production, but in a recent statement it defended itself.

 

The Basel-based group has said it had doubled production of Tamiflu and would up that 10-fold by mid 2006.

 

In China Tamiflu, which is not a vaccine against avian flu but eases its impact, is imported and the Chinese government is the only buyer.

 

At various pharmacies in Shanghai this week the 300 yuan (37 dollar) drug was sold out.