Guest guest Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 South China Morning Post http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZGDVYZ7YE.html Tuesday, February 20, 2007 ASSOCIATED PRESS in Beijing Guangdong authorities are cracking down on a burgeoning trade in civet cats to prevent an outbreak of Sars, Xinhua said yesterday. Some 7,000 health inspectors checked for civet cats at 10,000 restaurants in the province, where Sars emerged in 2002, it said. Civet cats are a delicacy in southern China and suspected of spreading severe acute respiratory syndrome to humans, although the source of the virus has not been determined. In January 2004, Guangdong banned the raising, selling, killing and eating of civet cats. But health departments have been receiving reports of illegal trade in the animals since November, Xinhua said, citing Huang Fei , of Guangdong's health department. " The possibility of a Sars outbreak still exists in Guangdong in spring, " Luo Huiming , of the provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, was quoted as saying. During the inspections, a live and several frozen civet cats were confiscated, and 18 restaurants fined, Xinhua said. Another restaurant in Foshan was fined 30,000 yuan for buying civet cats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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