European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday declared the spread of bird flu from Asia into Europe a "global threat" requiring broad international cooperation. At a special meeting, the ministers were to issue a statement saying they recognize bird flu poses a serious, global health threat if it shifts from birds to human beings and one "that requires a coordinated international reaction." One day after bird flu was recorded in Greece's Aegean Sea islands, they also called on the EU executive Commission to speed up the drafting of stronger EU rules designed to prevent, combat and eradicate bird flu. On Tuesday, Greece banned the export of live birds and poultry meat from the area where the EU's first bird flu case was detected. Poultry from Turkey and Romania have already been banned by the EU as bird flu found there was confirmed as being the deadly H5N1 strain. Tests were also being carried out on birds in Bulgaria and Croatia.
