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 | Thursday, April 27, 2000, updated at 16:09(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Cattle Imports Banned in ScareThe Ministry of Agriculture and the State Administration for Exit-Entry Inspection and Quarantine banned imports of cattle, sheep, pigs and their products from Japan and the Republic of Korea yesterday, after an outbreak of highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).Experts said FMD can cause animals to get blisters on their mouths and hooves and fevers, causing a loss in appetite. It can kill animals and infect entire beef and milk-cow herds. Responding to allegations from Japan and the Republic of Korea that Chinese hay may have transmitted the disease, a ministry official said the rumuor is simply not true. As a result of nationwide monitoring and control efforts, the ministry has so far not received any reports of FMD outbreaks. Wang Changjiang of the Animal Quarantine Division said it was "impossible" for the Chinese hay to have spread the disease. "Judging from the hay drying and processing procedure in China, it is impossible to spread the FMD viruses through imports of hay even if China was found to have the disease," Wang said. He added that the two countries had not presented any scientific evidence to support their claims. Zhao Weining, director of the Animal Quarantine Division, said it was an important role of the ministry to prevent possible foreign livestock infections. Last year, the ministry prohibited imports of meat and other animal products from more than 20 countries where animal diseases were discovered, Zhao said. The ministry later lifted some of the bans as measures were taken to ensure food safety in those countries. The ministry has called for the country's 100,000 veterinarians and animal quarantine workers to help prevent epidemic outbreaks among animals. Vice-Minister Qi Jingfa said that quarantine inspection activities should be conducted in animal-rearing establishments and slaughterhouses. Ministry official Yang Zhenhai said that since 1987, China declared that all imported animal feeds be registered with the Ministry of Agriculture before entering the Chinese market. Yang said last year's Animal Feed Management Provisions stipulated that the ministry should check and test all foreign feed and additives imported to China. He said these provisions are intended to protect humans and animals from disease. Recently a permit-granting system was also implemented for the fodder industry to supervise animal feed producers and processors, he said.
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