DeLauro Questions How USDA Can Ensure Safety of Chinese Poultry Imports when Agency Lacks Plan to Detect Avian Flu

DeLauro Questions How USDA Can Ensure Safety of Chinese Poultry Imports when Agency Lacks Plan to Detect Avian Flu

- USDA Inspector General finds agency lacks plan for detecting avian flu in poultry -

In response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Inspector General report on the agency's inability to detect avian flu in poultry and wild birds, Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today questioned how the agency can ensure the safety of chicken imports from China. DeLauro inserted language into the Fiscal Year 2007 Agriculture Appropriations bill that would restrict funding under the bill from being used to implement a rule that allows imports of processed poultry and poultry products from the People's Republic of China.

DeLauro is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee, with jurisdiction and oversight responsibilities of the USDA.

"Allowing these poultry imports into our country increases the possibility that we could bring a pandemic into our borders exponentially," said DeLauro. "This virus remains a virus of birds - and for that we are grateful. Yet incidents of human deaths are growing in China because of contact with infected poultry. When the USDA's own inspector general finds that the agency does not have a plan to detect this deadly disease in poultry and wild birds, which would fight this virus at its basic level, how can USDA ensure the safety of poultry imports from China? This policy is dangerous and it should be reversed by the USDA."

According to the World Health Organization, the H5N1 virus has killed 130 people around the world since 2003.

http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2006/June/poultry_imports_6_21_06.html