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SCMP Reporter

Whether Hong Kong is going to opt for the central or regional slaughtering of poultry, a battle with the 6,500-strong live poultry trade group seems imminent.

The question for the government now is how it can successfully mobilise public opinion to compel the industry to come around to accepting the need for change.

Since 1997, Hong Kong has been hit by four outbreaks of bird flu that have cost six human lives and $273 million in compensation.

The latest outbreaks across Asia, which claimed 23 lives in Thailand and Vietnam, have prompted concerns that bird flu could become endemic in the region.

Most people would probably agree that something needs to be done to minimise the risk of human infection by the deadly H5N1 virus through contact with live poultry.

Even gourmets who savour the taste of freshly killed chickens would grudgingly accept that it is time Hong Kong abandoned the unhygienic practice of keeping and killing live chickens at wet markets.

Given the Chinese preference for fresh meat, it would appear that the option of establishing regional slaughterhouses, where consumers would have the choice of buying chilled or freshly killed chicken, would stand a better chance of being given the community's blessing.

That is not the most effective way of reducing the risk of flu infection, but it is a more pragmatic option that may help rally the public to back the government's plan to re-organise the live poultry trade.

It also holds out the prospect of allowing more members of the industry's existing workforce to carry on with their trade.

The industry has adopted the twin tactics of opposing both central and regional slaughtering and pressing the government to buy  their licences.

A win-win solution would be to devise arrangements that would allow most, if not all, existing stakeholders to take on new roles in the trade after it was reformed.

That is easier said than done. But for the sake of the industry and the community at large, that is the direction we should be heading.

Although the 6,500 people engaged in the trade constitute just 0.18 per cent of Hong Kong's workforce, they should not be made to suffer for the sake of enhancing the welfare of the community.

Many of them are of a lower educational background and might have difficulty finding alternative employment if their means of support disappeared.



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