Agência Brasil*
Brasília – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) signed a US$ 500,000 agreement with the countries of the Mercosur, the economic bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, to proceed with the work, started last year, aimed at precocious detection of avian flu.
In February 2005, after a meeting in Brazilian capital Brasília, the Fund had already invested US$ 500,000 to start the emergency assistance program, due to the occurrence of avian flu in Africa and Asia. The funds turned to the Mercosur are going to improve the quality of information and to prepare laboratories in Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina for diagnosis.
One of the main targets is the birds that arrive at different seasons of the year, in migratory cycles, according to the director general of the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, José Graziano. In an interview to Agência Brasil, the official Brazilian government news agency, Graziano said that the organization promotes this support "considering that there are 5 billion birds on the continent and that it is the worlds largest producer of white birds – and that an outburst in any of the countries would bring considerable economic losses, mainly to the smaller countries".
*Translated by Mark Ament
