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Avian Flu

My Lords, it really is about time the trade in exotic birds was stopped altogether. Many of these birds are caught in the wild. Frankly, if this gives us a reason to stop it altogether there is obviously a silver cloud. Secondly, does the Minister accept that there is a degree of hysteria about this? I have seen figures in newspapers such as the Daily Mail and Daily Express suggesting that perhaps 750,000 people could die in this country. That seems to relate more to the political agenda of the newspapers than any clinical analysis of the problem that we might face. Lastly, while it is obviously most unpleasant if you happen to have died while contracting some mutating form of avian flu, to keep the matter in perspective, I understand that about 60 people have died over the past three years. More people have probably died from eating dodgy Chinese food than contracting some form of avian flu. The last thing we want is for the Daleks from Defra to start suggesting that they want to exterminate wildlife—as is their normal response when confronted with such a problem. We do not want any proposal that migrating birds are going to be destroyed because of alarmist figures and notions that appear in the Tory press.