030314 Japan Bans U.S. Poultry ImportsMarch 7, 2003Tokyo - Japan imposed a temporary ban on poultry imports from the United States Thursday after a suspected outbreak of an infectious bird disease in Connecticut. The ban takes effect immediately, Agriculture Ministry official Hiroyuki Ohtomo said. Ohtomo said Tokyo received a report from the U.S. Embassy earlier Thursday that U.S. health officials suspect an avian influenza among chickens at Connecticut farm. The ban will be lifted once Tokyo was sure proper measures had been taken to contain the disease, he said. Avian flu generally infects only birds, though it has spread to people in isolated cases. Thursday's ban comes less than three weeks after Japan lifted a five-month ban Feb. 14 on poultry imports from areas of California for a suspected bird flu outbreak. No cases of the flu turned up there. Japan's poultry imports from the United States dropped by 35% to 49,645 tons last year, largely because of bird diseases.
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