Britain's farmer's union has warned the intense interest in avian flu could seriously hurt poultry sales in the country.
Tim Bennett, president of the group, says the British public does not know enough about the bird flu virus. He said British chicken is safe to eat, the BBC reported Friday.
The farmer's union said bird flu is a disease mainly affecting birds. Humans are affected only if they spend long periods of time with the birds, it said. The fear is the virus will mutate and spread from human to human.
Separately, the report said specialists from the European Union began discussions on new measures to stop bird flu spreading in Europe after outbreaks were confirmed in Turkey.
The Turkish birds were found to have the highly virulent strain of the disease from South East Asia, known as H5N1. Earlier avian flu also was confirmed in ducks in Romania. Samples of the dead birds have been sent to Britain for laboratory analysis.
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