Freedom New Zealand

PARIS/BRUSSELS, April 27 (Reuters)

The virus spreading around the world should not be called "swine flu" as it contains avian and human components and no pig has so far been found ill with the disease, the world animal health body said on Monday. It would be more logical to call the virus "North American influenza", a name based on its geographic origin like the Spanish influenza, a human flu pandemic with animal origin that killed more than 50 million people in 1918-1919.

"The virus has not been isolated in animals to date. Therefore it is not justified to name this disease swine influenza," the Paris-based World Organisation for Animal Health, also known as the OIE, said in a statement. The European Commission said that the virus was not linked with pork. Robert Madelin, director-general of the Commission's health and food safety department, said in Brussels that no European Union trade restrictions on imports were planned since swine flu had nothing to do with the food chain.

The EU only imports insignificant numbers of live pigs and pigmeat products are not seen as a disease threat. The World Health Organization has ruled out any risk of infection from consuming pork, saying swine flu has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork, or other products derived from pigs. Fears of a global flu pandemic grew after 103 people were killed in Mexico and new infections were found in the United States and Canada and possible cases as far afield as Europe, Israel and New Zealand.

The OIE, an intergovernmental organisation, warned that if the virus was shown to cause disease in animals, this could worsen the regional and global public health situation. Denmark, a major pork producer that exported nearly 2 million tonnes of pigmeat in 2008, said on Monday it was not putting any extra controls in place on pigs or introducing extra measures relating to pork production as a result of the flu threat.

The Danish food and agriculture ministry also said it had not received any information from the industry suggesting pork demand had been hit by concerns arising from the virus. It said it would monitor the situation closely in coming days.

Fears there could be a global flu pandemic which would hurt fragile world economies led to a broad-based decline in stocks, oil and other commodity markets on Monday. Grain and oilseed markets fells sharply on concern that the outbreak could reduce feed demand for pigs.

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris, additional reporting by Jeremy Smith in Brussels and Anna Ringstrom in Copenhagen, editing by Anthony Barker)

- Source
- Additional Link Infowars.com

NZHerald Online latest article