Blogging from the Highlands of Scotland
'From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step' - Diderot

Friday 23 January 2004

Chicken Flu - and the repercussions begin in Europe

The EU will today ban importation of chicken from Thailand, which has been affected by the latest outbreak, along with a number of other south-east Asian nations. The fear apparently is that the virus may acquire human-to-human transferability. It seems that the EU, along with Japan, are the major importers of Thai chicken. On my many visits to Thailand (on business trips and as a tourist), in a number of different parts of the country, I have never once had a 'tummy upset', so I hope that the Thais are able to contain this outbreak rapidly and that their export markets and their tourist industry may not suffer too much. (Update: the BBC has more on the possible economic impact of this disaster for Thailand)

The chicken I buy almost always says 'UK produced' and is normally free-range, so I hope I'm safe for the moment. The same for eggs, usually locally produced (very locally).

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