Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-30-Speech-3-149"
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"en.20051130.14.3-149"2
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".
Mr President, I am pleased that the Council has dealt with this item as a matter of urgency. I wish to thank the Commissioner and his staff for their cooperation and help. I also wish to thank the Council for its cooperation and help. I would stress, as the Commissioner did, that this proposal deals with animal health. The aim of the Commission proposal is to improve the control of low pathogenic avian influenza so as to prevent an outbreak of the high pathogenic type.
Once mutation into high pathogenic has occurred, the virus is extremely difficult to control. There is now a clear need to update current legislation to reflect new advances and our recent experiences in Europe and beyond, and I support the Commission’s attempt to do this. It is very important to get this legislation right in order to protect EU poultry and ensure that legislation is proportionate to the risk posed. We must be well prepared and not fall down the same traps as with the foot-and-mouth outbreak, when there was no proper contingency planning in many Member States.
The Commission proposal aims to introduce compulsory surveillance for low pathogen avian influenza in all Member States. It spells out the measures to be taken in the event of an outbreak or suspected outbreak, allows new and more flexible provisions on vaccination – and I welcome that – and brings in a more flexible provision for domestic birds other than poultry, which will help in the case of zoos and endangered species. It also introduces new provisions to ensure cooperation between veterinary and public health authorities.
My report on the Commission proposal has added, I believe, some important new aspects that were not necessarily considered by the Commission. I have called on the Commission to assist in the development of a cost-efficient oral, multi-strain vaccine. Parliament has agreed to put money into the budget for this, and I welcome that. If an oral vaccine can be produced it will be far better for the welfare of the poultry. I would like a study to be conducted on the impact of migratory birds on the spread of the disease. I want to ensure that any outbreak or suspected outbreak is contained, notably by stopping the movements of poultry and other birds. Member States must keep all poultry farmers fully informed of contingency plans which, again, was not the case with foot-and-mouth disease. We must monitor flocks on the flight paths of wild birds.
I have amended the proposal to make the disease control measures tougher, notably where avian influenza is only suspected, and with respect to the movement of table and hatching eggs. I have also asked for risk-based flexibility in the application of certain measures so as to avoid unnecessary consequences for the poultry industry. I successfully introduced amendments to allow establishments such as zoos and wildlife parks to remain open, provided there is no threat to disease control.
Finally, I very much support the Commission’s proposal as regards monitoring for low pathogenic avian influenza and the slaughtering of these birds. However, despite the fact that it is scientifically proven that meat from chickens infected with low pathogenic avian influenza is safe for humans to eat, in practice it will almost be impossible to market such meat. We must maintain European consumers’ complete confidence in poultry meat and products. I fear that if meat potentially contaminated with low pathogenic avian influenza were to reach the food chain, it would damage consumer confidence in poultry meat and products in general.
I have retabled the amendments excluding LPAI-infected meat from the food chain, because I believe that this must be destroyed at this point. I urge the Commissioner to look at this carefully and see if we cannot adopt these measures that would take meat infected with low pathogenic avian influenza out of the circuit and have it destroyed. I should make it clear to the House that I am talking about meat infected with low pathogenic avian influenza, not about vaccinated meat, in case there is any confusion on that matter.
Finally, I would call upon all Members of this House to support these amendments and to get this regulation on the statute book as soon as possible so that we can put a proper contingency plan in place in the unfortunate event of an outbreak of avian influenza hitting Europe."@en1
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