Tony Blair’s spokesman has said that the risk of the spread of the bird-flu virus is certainly pronounced. EU farm ministers will be meeting in Brussels to thrash out this issue, the virus already having entered France. Yet the U.k Ministry don’t feel it is time to lock up the Britain’s 20 million free range poultry, though some experts feel appropriate to do so. According to the National Farmers' Union, if this is done, it will just be a massive over-reaction.
The British policy dictates that birds will be locked up only if the disease has spread to the UK. Tony Blair's official spokesman said: "It is common sense that as the incidents of bird flu on the continent geographically gets closer, so the level of concern increases. We recognize that, and that is why Defra is issuing new guidance today telling poultry farmers that they should prepare plans to bring their flocks in if that is necessary. It is still not inevitable that bird flu will come to the UK, but clearly the risk must be higher today than it was." NFU president Tim Bennett has confirmed the preparedness of the union to be able to quickly contain the birds at very short notice, thus there is really no necessity to stop buying or eating British Chicken.United Kingdom: Farmers Cautioned To Plan Adequately For Bird-Flu
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