AGRICULTURE REPORT - Outbreaks of Disease Cut World Meat Exp

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Outbreaks of Disease¹ Cut World Meat Exports
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, March 09, 2004

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A United Nations report says outbreaks of animal disease could reduce world meat exports by one-third this year. The Food and Agriculture Organization says losses could reach ten-thousand-million dollars if import bans stay in place all year. And this does not include costs like the measures to control the current outbreaks in Asia, the United States and Canada.

In late February, the United States reported an outbreak of bird flu on a farm near San Antonio, Texas. The highly² infectious³ virus was different from the one found earlier in the Northeast. But officials said there was no danger to the public in either case.

Texas officials immediately destroyed almost seven-thousand birds. Jim Rogers of the Animal and Plant Inspection⁴ Service at the United States Department of Agriculture says the outbreak is under control. He says no new cases have been reported. He says birds experience a flu season just like people do.

But the outbreak in Texas led the European Union to suspend⁵ all imports of live chickens, turkeys and eggs from the United States. The ban will remain at least until March twenty-third. One-third of world poultry⁶ exports come from the United States.

The world market in beef has also suffered, because of mad cow disease. Last year one case of bovine⁷ spongiform encephalopathy was found in Canada and one in the United States. The United States and Canada hold a twenty-five percent share of the world beef market.

Last week Mexico agreed to reopen its border to some United States beef products. But many countries continue to ban imports of beef or chicken, or both. Some have banned chicken imports only from affected⁸ states.

Import bans can affect countries differently. Japan, for example, imports much of its chicken and beef. The result was an increase of forty-percent last month in the price of meat from pigs. Japan has also had its own problems with bird flu and mad cow disease. A third outbreak of flu virus H5N1 was reported late last month, this time at a farm in Kyoto. That is the virus that has killed more than twenty people in Vietnam and Thailand.

Concern about bird flu has affected even countries in Asia where the virus has not been reported. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says lower demand for chicken and eggs in India, for example, has cut prices there by one-third.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.

1 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

2 highly   

adv.高度地，极，非常；非常赞许地

参考例句：

• It is highly important to provide for the future.预先做好准备非常重要。
• The teacher speaks very highly of the boy's behaviour.老师称赞这个男孩的表现。

3 infectious   

adj.传染的，有传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。
• What an infectious laugh she has!她的笑声多么具有感染力啊！

4 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

5 suspend   

vt. 推迟, 悬挂, 暂停, 取消; vi. 悬挂, 中止, 停止偿付债务

参考例句：

• Balloons suspend easily in the air. 气球容易浮在空中。
• I request them to suspend their decision until they have read my narrative. 我请求他们没看完我写的故事之前,别轻率地先下断语。

6 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

7 bovine   

adj.牛的；n.牛

参考例句：

• He threw off his pack and went into the rush-grass andand munching,like some bovine creature.他丢开包袱，爬到灯心草丛里，像牛似的大咬大嚼起来。
• He was a gentle,rather bovine man.他是一位文雅而反应迟钝的人。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。