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Thursday, 02.06.2011
Ehec: Russia closes its borders to EU vegetables
Moscow. Ehec fear in Russia: From today Moscow stops all import of vegetables from EU countries. Gennady Onishenchko, the head of Rospotrebnadzor, tells his fellow countrymen to buy local products instead of imported goods.
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Over the last few days an import and sale ban of vegetables from Germany and Spain, due to the Ehec epidemic had been imposed. Once it was established, that the main suspect, the Spanish cucumber, was not the cause of the outbreak, but the disease kept on spreading further, the Russian consumer protection agency Rospotrebnadzor pulled the emergency break: The import of fresh vegetables from EU countries is prohibited. Even goods that are already in the country are to be confiscated.
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Patriotic advice: Stay away from imported vegetables
In view of the disease, head of the authorities, Gennady Onishchenko, called upon the Russian consumers to follow basic rules of hygiene and clean fresh vegetables thoroughly before eating. Instead of imported vegetables one should buy home grown products, says Onishchenko.
Travelers to Germany had been advised some days ago to only eat cooked vegetables.
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EU fresh products enriched Russian tables
Despite its size, Russia relies on imports of food, including fresh produce, due to rather poorly developed agriculture as wells as climatic conditions. A lot of fruit, vegetables and berries, like French apples, Spanish peppers, Belgium cauliflower or Greek strawberries are imported from EU countries.
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Onishchenko scolds EU rules
Onishchenko took the opportunity of the import ban to attack the food control system and prevention of diseases in the EU. The current spreading disease is proof that the much praised European hygiene legislation, suggested to be introduced in Russia, is not working.
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I am far from suggesting that my colleagues in Germany and other European countries lack professional knowledge, but they are hampered in their investigation of outbreaks of diseases and their source by unnecessarily politicized and unrealistic ground basis, states Onishchenko.
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He also criticised, that since the start of the epidemic, the version of the Spanish cucumber being the source of infection, which very quickly was apparent not the case, had been given a lot of unnecessary emphasis.
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Russia accuses EU medical officer of failing to act
Onishchenko told his EU colleagues to vigorously fight the trigger of the disease and eliminate all possibilities of transmission. But it seems that the responsible services in the EU and EU countries still lack the necessary approach.
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One has to ask the question, how many more EU citizens have to die until the united Europe moves from words to deeds, he complained - without explaining how he would tackle the difficult search for the Ehec trigger.
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Onishchenko's office had also initially jumped on the bandwago of blaming Spanish cucumbers and banned only Spanish products alongside German vegetables.
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Import ban as a proven political instrument
The Russian food control is also over politicised: head of the hygiene services, Onishchenko, has in recent years repeatedly distinguished himself with import bans on allegedly dangerous agricultural products that surprisingly corresponded exactly with current political conflicts - like milk products from Belarus, Moldovian wine, Georgian soda water, Polish meat or Abkhaz mandarins.
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In view of the real danger of Ehec and due to the Europe wide excitement over this disease as well as the unknown cause of it, one cannot accuse Onishchenko of mixing politics with food control.
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EU countries and their agricultural sector have certainly more pressing problems than the prohibition of selling their crops in Russia.
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