Countries that ban the import of wild birds to stave off deadly avian flu may drive the trade underground and make it more difficult to detect the spread of the virus, a senior UN scientist warned on Sunday.
World leaders are trying to control a growing outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza, which has infected many poultry flocks in Asia and also spread to Europe. It has killed 67 people since late 2003.
A number of countries, including European Union members, have slapped a ban on the import of live birds and feathers in a desperate attempt to contain the spread of the virus.
"As long as there is a demand, there will be a trade and you can't stamp out illegal trade by banning the legal trade," David Morgan, head of the Scientific Support Unit of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
"You just send it further underground, where it becomes more difficult to detect, and you only need one specimen to get through the net to spread the disease."
Around 1.5 million live wild birds are traded internationallly, most of which are parrots and finches originating mainly in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia and being traded to consumers mainly in European Union.
"CITES is opposed to a general unfocused ban on trade," Morgan told journalists. "There are international norms and quarantine standards both at the import and export end and we would like to see these rigorously enforced."