Australian Court Strikes Down Pork Ban

September 20, 2005 — 

An Australian appeals court has upheld the government's quarantine procedures and overturned a lower court ruling which had threatened to halt pork imports from countries with Postweaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS). The earlier court ruling would have threatened US pork exports to Australia estimated to be in excess of $50 million. Australia became the 7th largest importer of US pork products during the first quarter of 2005.

The court case involved an Import Risk Assessment (IRA) undertaken by the Australian government during trade negotiations to open the Australian market to pork products from the US. The extensive IRA determined the risk of introducing PMWS into the Australian pig herd to be very low through the importation of allowed pork products. [Ed. Although Porcine Circovirus is reportedly present in pigs in Australia, clinical PMWS has not been reported.]

Australian Pork Limited (APL), a producer-owned organization supporting Australian pork producers, filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of the IRA. The group won an initial court judgement supporting their position that the level of risk identified by the IRA was excessive and the IRA was flawed. The appeals court last week, however, found that the lower court did not have the power to overrule the initial analysis and endorsed the science-based decision.

APL has a month to file an appeal to Australia's High Court.

Source:
Yahoo News Australia
http://au.news.yahoo.com/050916/2/vyxi.html
National Pork Producers Council
http://www.nppc.org