§ Mr. Martenasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what recommendations he has made concerning the importing of birds carrying psittacosis and making psittacosis a notifiable disease.
§ Sir K. JosephMy right hon. Friend the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and I reviewed the question of import controls on psittacine birds following the Report of the Review Panel on the Newcastle Disease Epidemic, 1970–71. We concluded that the risk to health, whether human or otherwise, was not sufficient to justify such controls, and we have no proposals for making psittacosis a notifiable disease.