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HONG KONG PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL

found in August that the virus was a new H5N1 fatal to human health. Yet, no decisive action was taken by the government. It was only in November when new H5N1 cases of human infection were discovered did the government start conducting sample inspection on chickens imported from Mainland China at the Man Kam To border control point. In fact, the inspection on the poultry imported from China was only taken visually. Among the 160-plus chicken farms in Hong Kong, only 60 of them were inspected at that time. The tests taken remained the old way of bacteria-planting and it took a week to have the results. In the mean time, the Department of Health claimed that H5N1 virus had not been spread out and those who were infected were just individual cases. As a result, the virus was not taken seriously. This judgement actually came from a blood indicator made with human lives which would only be used by the bureaucratic and cold-blooded people. However, such a thing did happen in an advanced society as Hong Kong. In late December, chickens in Apleichau of the Hong Kong Island and the Northern District of the New Territories were also found to be infected by H5N1 virus. The government then made an ambiguous announcement that the Guangdong Province would, of its own accord, stop exporting chickens to Hong Kong for one week. However, the Chinese authorities said that the decision to cease the export of chickens to Hong Kong was made upon a request of the HKSAR Government via a facsimile. I wonder which party actually made the decision and for what reasons the decision was made. Is it because the virus was found in imported chickens? Why didn't the HKSAR Government ban the import of poultry by exercising the authority conferred by Cap. 139 instead of ceasing the import of chickens from Mainland China by way of mutual agreement without any reasonable explanation? As the issues of food hygiene and food import are within the autonomous jurisdiction of Hong Kong, why can't the HKSAR Government say 'no' to the chickens from Mainland China boldly?

According to a Japanese expert as reported by a newspaper of Taiwan, there was an outbreak of bird influenza in Mainland China in February 1997 killing a large number of chickens. The Agriculture and Fisheries Department of Hong Kong also confirmed that a chicken pestilence did take place in Mainland China in May and the cause was supposed to be a new disease also. As disclosed by chicken vendors, however, there was a rise in the mortality rate of import chickens after August, reflecting that the rumour was not an unfounded one. In the circumstances, did the Hong Kong SAR Government conduct a thorough investigation to find out the truth and disclose the truth afterwards? Or just let itself, the people of Hong Kong, the local chicken farmers and chickens become the scapegoats jointly. It was only on 28 December when a large number of chickens were found dead in the Cheung Sha Wan Wholesale Market did the government announce the operation to slaughter all chickens in the territory. But on the previous day, the Chief Executive still alleged that the media coverage of the bird flu outbreak had dealt a blow to the tourist industry.