Bird flu has only a remote or low chance of striking the European Union in the immediate future and there is no need to ban European farmers from keeping their poultry outdoors, the EU executive confirmed today.
A virulent strain of the disease, potentially lethal to humans, has been confirmed in six Russian regions in Siberia and the Urals in recent weeks, causing the deaths of some 14,000 wild and domestic fowl. It has also spread into Kazakhstan.
Some experts fear migratory birds could spread the virus to the EU as they move to warmer areas for winter after nesting in Siberia. The European Commission, summarising a meeting of national veterinary experts, said this now seemed unlikely.
"Taking into account existing knowledge of the migratory routes of the species of birds that might pose a risk of spreading the virus, the group concluded that the immediate risk is probably remote or low," it said in a statement.
"A generalised ban on keeping poultry outdoors was not considered proportionate to the current risk of disease introduction through migratory birds," it said.
There was also not enough data available to say to what extent the spread of the virus strain, known as H5N1, might have been caused by wild birds.
But while the birds might not reach the EU, they are likely to fly to southern Russia and Ukraine and countries bordering the Black Sea, possibly Romania and Bulgaria, bringing the disease ever closer to the EU's borders.
The Commission, which chaired the meeting, asked EU governments to improve monitoring of their bird flocks.
Sampling of migratory waterfowl along flyways where there was believed to be a heightened risk of disease introduction would be increased and Brussels will pay 50 per cent of the costs of this extra work - up to a ceiling of €1.2 million.
EU governments were urged to look carefully at migratory routes of birds in their countries and areas where wild birds might get in close contact with domestic birds, such as ponds.
Vaccination of birds would be considered for high-risk situations and border checks would be tightened to avoid the import of infected birds, the Commission said, adding that labels might be used on poultry products to reassure consumers that the items did not come from known bird flu areas.
Since its discovery on a farm in a Siberian region in mid-July, bird flu has spread to other areas of Russia, leading to the forced culling of some 130,000 domestic birds in an attempt to prevent its spread elsewhere.
Earlier this month, the EU banned imports of chickens and other birds and poultry products from Russia and Kazakhstan to help prevent the spread of bird flu. But in practice, there is almost no poultry trade between the two countries and the EU.
Only two EU countries, Germany and the Netherlands, have chosen to take their own measures to guard against the possible risk of bird flu arriving on their national territories.
From this week, Dutch farmers must keep all poultry indoors to prevent contact with migrating birds - or build an enclosure to make contact with wild birds impossible.
In Germany, the government has drafted emergency regulations to order farmers keep their poultry flocks in pens to prevent contact with wild birds, but these have not yet passed into law.