Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of the recent outbreak of avian influenza on fur farms in Finland; and whether she has held discussions with her counterparts in (a) Finland and (b) other EU countries on collective action to mitigate the risks of zoonotic disease on fur farms.

The Government shares the British public’s high regard for animal welfare. Fur farming has been banned in England and Wales since 2000 (2002 in Scotland and Northern Ireland). While fur farming is legal in some EU countries, there are strict rules in place to ensure that animals kept for fur production are farmed, trapped and killed humanely. The risk to the UK population from these outbreaks is negligible and the Finnish government is taking action to cull the affected farms.

Nevertheless, together with the UK Health Security Agency we are keeping a close eye on the findings in mink, foxes and other animals farmed for fur and the possible risk to human health. We have published a risk assessment on the transmission from animals to humans of influenza of avian origin.

International collaboration and knowledge exchange on avian influenza is facilitated through discussions between the UK Chief Veterinary Officer and representatives from the Animal and Plant Health Agency avian influenza national and international reference laboratories, and their counterparts in the EU and globally through the World Organisation for Animal Health and allied projects, including through the joint WOAH-FOA Scientific Network on animal influenza OFFLU.