France set stricter measures to combat bird flu

French prime minister Dominique de Villepin today ordered stricter measures to ward off bird flu.

Villepin summoned his ministers this morning amid renewed fears prompted by bird flu outbreaks in Britain and Hungary.

The French national food safety agency raised the category of France’s bird flu risk from “negligible” to “weak” after the H5N1 strain of virus was discovered on a British turkey farm.

France, the EU’s biggest poultry producer, was hit last year by the H5N1 strain at a turkey farm in the south east of the country.

The government approved stricter measures proposed by Dominique Bussereau, the agriculture minister, for monitoring wild and farmed birds, keeping poultry farmers informed of risks, and banning the transport of live decoy birds used by hunters.

A new version of France’s bird flu plan will be released by the prime minister in the coming days.