- Britain faces a public health disaster unless greater
efforts are made to stop illegal meat from entering the country, it was
claimed yesterday.
-
- Campaigners highlighted the threat from bushmeat - chunks
of monkey, antelope, giant rat and elephant - some of which may carry dangerous
diseases such as the Ebola virus.
-
- New research also suggests widespread public concern
about illegal meat. In a survey by the polling organisation Mori, 86% of
those questioned said illegal meat imports pose a threat to public health
and 91% called for urgent government action.
-
- Yesterday an alliance of farmers, animal rights campaigners,
public health activists and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
warned of the potential dangers.
-
- They compared Britain with Australia, where ten times
as much is spent stopping the importof exotic pests and diseases.
-
- Barry Gardiner MP, chairman of the Bushmeat Campaign,
said a disaster is likely at some stage unless officials respond more appropriately,
and called for an independent review.
-
- "There will be an epidemic and some form of transmission
into the human population," he said. "It is a matter of mathematics.
No one can say when it is going to happen but it will happen because you
can't have this quantity of unregulated meat coming into the country."
-
- He acknowledged the government's decision to allocate
£25m over three years to improving detection, but attacked the Food
Standards Agency for refusing to conduct a risk assessment of the threat
to human health.
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
-
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1161439,00.html
|
