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last update:Jul 30, 2008
Philippines: producers want Asia pork bans
The Philippines hog sector has urged the government to ban pork
imports.
The hog sector want the bans from China, Vietnam, and Cambodia in order to
prevent the spread of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory
Syndrome (PRRS).
The government is being urged ion by the National
Federation of Hog Farmers (NFHFI) to impose a ban on importing pork from the
three countries.
According to reports, the Philippines does not currently
import pork from China due to its own pork shortage, a ban will be a
stricter prohibition to the entry of pork should a softening of price occur in
China's domestic market.
"If we have a ban that will be a deterrent even
to smuggling. At present if they want to export to us, we don't have a policy
banning the import," NFHFI vice chairman Renato R. Eleria said.
Serious health risk
"Allowing the entry of pork imports from
these countries would further expose the local hog industry to this strain of
virus and pose a serious health to our people," stated the NFHFI in a letter to
Department of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap.
"It will be very
devastating once we have the disease again since we don't have a vaccine yet.
That will surely make the price of pork go up again. We should have a specific
vaccine (or cure) for the specific sub-type infecting us, not a general type of
vaccine," said JSR Hog Farms Association president Alex M.
Reyes.
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