EAST Anglia's Labour Euro MP has urged European trade commissioner Peter Mandelson to challenge Japan which has banned imports of British poultry products, following last week's outbreak of bird 'flu on three Norfolk farms.

By Graham Dines

EAST Anglia's Labour Euro MP has urged European trade commissioner Peter Mandelson to challenge Japan which has banned imports of British poultry products, following last week's outbreak of bird 'flu on three Norfolk farms.

Richard Howitt has tabled an urgent parliamentary question to the Commissioner calling on him to try to overturn the Japanese ban as illegal under international trade rules.

“We must challenge this ban now to stop other countries following suit,” said Mr Howitt. “We know how long the beef ban took to lift - if we don't nip this in the bud we could find ourselves denied access to valuable markets for many years to come.

“Any ban appears totally unjustified under World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) guidelines. The Norfolk outbreak has been confirmed through rigorous testing as the low pathogenic H7N3 strain rather than the more dangerous H5N1 bird 'flu.

“Local veterinary and health officials fully complied with European Commission biosecurity guidelines in dealing with the outbreak, and we are now looking to the Commission to support us in protecting our vital poultry industry.

“As the formal notification of the ban has been announced in Tokyo but is yet to be received from the Japanese, I was the first to break the news to Commission trade officials this morning, and they expressed serious concern that Japan has broken from past practice in imposing such restrictions.”