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UAE bans bird imports from Turkey, Romania
11 Oct 2005 08:54:09 GMT
Source: Reuters
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DUBAI, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates banned on Monday all imports of live birds and feathers from Turkey and Romania due to the presence of cases of bird flu. The decision by the Agriculture Ministry, carried by the state's WAM news agency, appeared to be the first by an Arab country and comes a day after the European Commission issued a similar ban after laboratory tests positively identified bird flu in both countries. WAM did not say what quantity of poultry or live birds the UAE imported from both countries. Annual trade between the UAE and Turkey is currently valued at about $1 billion. The World Health Organisation warned last month that bird flu was moving towards a form that could be passed between humans, and there was no time to waste to prevent a pandemic. The so-called Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 killed between 20 and 40 million people worldwide.
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