Re: HN51 - POULTRY INDUSTRY 'FACING DISASTER' - seems to be more concern for factory farming than human health!av

Just nuke China, they're fucking filthy.


"Adam Hart" <Adam.Hart@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:h3mop3959uq632s41jfr1tj3tkmmm1u4di@xxxxxxxxxx
: Given the fact that this strain of HN51 is what is killing humans
: already and highly pathogenic, there seems to be more concern for
: factory farming than our own health!
:
: " Farmers are on red alert, but yesterday they said the discovery of
: more wild swan carcasses did not make the situation worse, as avian
: flu still has not infiltrated domestic flocks"
:
:
: av
: POULTRY INDUSTRY 'FACING DISASTER'
: LOUISE VENNELLS
:
: 11:00 - 12 January 2008
:
:
: http://tinyurl.com/yntdmr
: The poultry sector in Britain could be wiped out by a "catalogue of
: disasters" culminating in the latest bird flu outbreak, an industry
: leader has warned.
:
: Yesterday, officials were investigating more dead swans discovered in
: and around the Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset, after three found on
: Thursday tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease.
:
: The results of the latest tests are expected over the weekend.
:
:
:
: Twelve members of staff on the site are being given a basic flu jab
: and a course of medication as a precaution, after it was thought they
: could have been in contact with the birds.
:
: The Health Protection Agency has said there is "almost no chance" of
: humans catching the virus, which can kill birds within 24 hours.
:
: Farmers are on red alert, but yesterday they said the discovery of
: more wild swan carcasses did not make the situation worse, as avian
: flu still has not infiltrated domestic flocks.
:
: It is the first time the virulent disease has been identified so close
: to Devon and Cornwall.
:
: But John Riddell, chairman of the National Farmers' Union's South West
: poultry board, last night painted a bleak picture of the sector's
: future, and said poultry farmers were already going out of business.
:
: "We thought the beginning of 2007 was bad because we had an avian
: influenza outbreak in Britain - but so far, 2008 has just been one
: disaster after another," he said.
:
: Mr Riddell said the need to step up bio-security measures would cost
: farmers money, and the industry had been damaged by celebrity chef
: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's series of programmes urging people to
: buy free- range, which aired earlier this week.
:
: Mr Riddell said the chef's campaign could contribute to the poultry
: sector dying out in the UK but cheap imports from countries such as
: Thailand and Brazil, where bird welfare is not an issue, would fill
: the void.
:
: Mr Riddell, who farms in south Somerset, said poultry farmers were
: already reeling from a 60 per cent rise in grain prices, while
: producers had seen no rise in the price paid for their birds.
:
: "This combination of factors brings us very close to being wiped out
: as an industry," he warned.
:
: Of more than 100 poultry farmers he had on his contact list in the
: South West five years ago, more than half had already gone out of
: business, he said.
:
: Mr Riddell added that the free- range sector currently accounts for
: five per cent of chickens consumed nationally. And he said most free-
: range producers earned their main income by other means, and could not
: hope to match the 800 million birds eaten in Britain each year.
:
: Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall was unavailable to comment.
:
: National Farmers' Union spokesman Ian Johnson said all poultry keepers
: were facing economic pressure - particularly as the sector receives no
: subsidy.
:
: "There's a tremendous amount of pressure, and the margins they work to
: are extremely tight," he said. "It only takes a very small breeze to
: blow them on to the rocks. The problem is that at the moment,
: everything is coming at them simultaneously."
:
: Yesterday, Abbotsbury staff member David Wheeler, who is among those
: receiving medication, said: "There's no reason to worry. Having said
: that, we could lose one or two more, you can't predict. We know that
: swans can be susceptible.
:
: "We are just coping with the situation that has occurred.
:
: "We have known about it for years. We have been monitoring and we
: realised it could come at any time.
:
: "We certainly didn't want it to come, it's not good news, but we are
: going to deal with it."
:
: The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), which has two
: wetland nature reserves near Abbotsbury, said it would increase the
: surveillance of wildfowl on its sites in Devon, Somerset and Dorset.
:
: Restrictions in place in Dorset involve a control area which extends
: about 15 miles (25km) to the South-East of Abbotsbury, and includes
: the town of Weymouth, Chesil Beach and the Portland Bill headland,
: while the larger monitoring area of some 20 miles (32km) also covers
: the town of Dorchester.
:
: The limitations, which will be in place for at least three weeks, are
: also bad news for gamekeepers, as it means the shooting season has in
: effect finished early within the zones.
:
: John Mortimer, South West director of the Country Land and Business
: Association, said: "Shooting represents a significant income stream
: for many farms and estates.
:
: "This ban will have a serious economic impact on the area."



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