Japan sets tougher penalties for not reporting bird flu

The Japanese government Tuesday adopted a set of emergency measures to detect cases of bird flu at an early stage, including a plan to impose heavier penalties on anyone who neglects to report findings about such cases to the authorities, government officials said.


Other measures include subsidies to poultry farmers who have complied with an order issued by the authorities to stop shipments of chickens and eggs after the avian flu struck their areas.


The Japanese government will present the current Diet session with a bill seeking to revise the Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control Law with the aim of incorporating those measures.


The Japanese government also decided to use 104.8 million yen from a discretionary reserve fund in the fiscal 2003 budget to finance the anti-bird flu measures.


The decision to tighten penalties against anyone who fails to report bird flu cases came after the bitter lesson learned from the spread of bird flu due to the delay by a local poultry farmer in reporting a case in Tanbacho, Kyoto Prefecture.


Currently offenders are liable to a prison term of up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen. The government soon will consider how much these penalties should be increased, according to the officials.


The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry (Japan) will team up with the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry in an effort to offer aid, including loan guarantees, to small and midsize corporations that have been harmed by the spread of the virus.


The government also is considering storage of an antiviral medicine as a precautionary measure against human infection.


Meanwhile, during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Public Management Minister Taro Aso detailed the framework for special tax grants to local governments in March, totaling about 801.5 billion yen.


The tax grants will include an allocation of 200 million yen to the Yamaguchi prefectural government to fund anti-bird flu measures and 100 million yen to the Oita and Kyoto prefectural governments for similar purposes.