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In response to the meeting of Heung Yee Kuk to discuss the issue of filing a judicial review against the ban on backyard poultry, a spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said today (February 21) that the objective of the relevant legislation was to safeguard the health of the backyard poultry owners, their families and neighbours, as well as the Hong Kong public.
"We believe that the measure does not only help protect the health and safety of the New Territories villagers and other members of the public, but also avoid local economic activities from coming to a standstill due to risks of avian influenza", the spokesman said.
"According to the studies by the World Health Organisation on avian influenza outbreaks in other regions, backyard farming was the source in many cases. Due to space constraints, backyard poultry owners could not install biosecurity measures to prevent cross infection. It is therefore necessary for us to ban such activities to reduce possible infection among poultry which might eventually cause human infection.
"No government could bear to ignore the threat of avian influenza. Instead, all are racing against time to prevent any occurrence of human infection cases. It is a matter of fact that backyard poultry keeping activities have posed an immediate and very serious threat to the public health in Hong Kong.
"In fact, inspections following the implementation of the ban found that most of the households no longer reared backyard poultry. Through the cooperation between the Government and the public , the issue of the threat posed by backyard poultry can be settled within a short period of time.
"The arrangement of not allowing poultry to be stocked up in households' homes waiting for compensation has proved to be an effective way to protect the health of the affected households, their family members and neighbours without causing disturbance to the public," the spokesman said.
The spokesman also reiterated that the ban on backyard poultry keeping did not violate the Basic Law.
"It is hoped that Heung Yee Kuk and the New Territories residents could support the Government to jointly fight against the threat of avian influenza and protect the public health in Hong Kong amid the peak season of influenza," the spokesman added.
Ends/Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Issued at HKT 20:21
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