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Russia Lifts Ban on Pork Imports From US States

by VR Sreeraman on May 8 2009 11:20 AM

Russia lifted a ban on pork imports from five US states after deciding that they posed no risk of swine flu but added Illinois to its interdiction list, veterinary authorities said Thursday.

"Due to the absence of worsening epidemic/outbreak conditions in certain US states, the ban ... on imports from Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada and Ohio is lifted," the sanitary and veterinary authority said in a statement.

A separate statement, however, said pork products from Illinois were banned. Russia now has a pork ban against eight US states, also including California, Delaware, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Arizona and Massachusetts.

Russia has also imposed bans on pork products from some Canadian provinces, Britain and Spain, which the European Union decried as "unjustified".

Restrictions on meat imports from several Latin American countries including Mexico, the epicentre of the A(H1N1) outbreak, are also in place.

The World Health Organisation and three other major organisations have denounced boycotts of pork over fears the meat could be a means of spreading the A(H1N1) virus, saying there was no evidence it was a source of infection.

Source-AFP
SRM


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