France suspends pig imports from North America, Japan

 France has suspended imports of live pigs from the United States,Canada, Mexico and Japan to try to prevent the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea virusentering the country, the French agriculture ministry announced Friday.The ban also extends to any products containing pork for animal feed. France is thefirst European country to take such action."Imports of live pigs, semen and all products containing pork for animal feedcoming from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Japan have been suspendedpending a European decision," the ministry said.The Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea(PED) virus has wiped out millions of pigs in the USand led to an increase in prices.Imports of pork and processed pork products intended for human consumption toFrance will continue as the virus cannot be transmitted to humans and "poses nohealth problems", the ministry added.Although figures for how many pigs France imports from these four countriesremains confidential, since January fewer than 10 pigs have been imported from theUS and two from Canada, according to official figures.The PED virus spreads among the pig population through contact withcontaminated soil. It first appeared in the 1970s, but the current virus is a morevirulent strain..  No effective vaccine for the virus exists at present.