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THREAT?: Bush meat on sale in West Africa

Tory MP claims West African meat a health hazard

The illegal trafficking of West African bush meat is posing a serious threat to Britain, claims a Tory MP. Jim Paice , Tory spokesman for agriculture and rural affairs, says that the recent cutting back of Customs officials, who patrol the UK borders, is to blame for the high volumes of illegal meat being smuggled into the U.K. "Why I find this so worrying an issue is that illegal meat does not just bring in animal disease, it brings in human diseases as well”. Said Paice. "Bush meat from west Africa has the huge potential for tropical diseases such as the Ebola virus to come in, which could pose a serious public health issue”.

"I suspect that the reduction of seizures is simply a reflection of the reduction of effort that is going into detection. Given that foot and mouth in 2001 was in all probability caused by illegal meat coming into the country, it defies belief that at the end of the decade very little action has been taken in terms of improvements to Customs." New figures in a Government report have shown that there have been no prosecutions for illegal meat smuggling this year.

However between 2006 and 2007, when there were increased patrols to tackle the threat of Bird Flu, more than 35,000 seizures were made. The Conservative Party are now proposing plans for tackling illegal meat imports, which would include an x-ray system to scan all bags coming into Britain. Over the past 12 months both the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Customs have been running awareness-raising campaigns. Last week Defra launched a short film, Don't Bring Me Back, to spread the message about the serious effects that importing meat illegally could bring.

In a report Lord Rooker, Minister for Sustainable Food and Farming and Animal Health, said that while scaling back of resources had resulted in a lower seizure level his department had indications travellers were becoming increasingly compliant with UK import rules. But Mr Paice said: "It is great that Defra has launched a film but why has it taken them until August 2008 when the problem has been going on for almost a decade?" What do you think logo.

Published: 18 August 2008
Issue: 1334

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