Bird flu: Cancel World Cup!
2006-02-21 15:08
Berlin - A German Green party politician on Tuesday said the football World Cup, which will be played here from June 9 to July 9, should be cancelled because of the outbreak of bird flu in the country.
"The virus is here, and we have a giant sports event on our hands. I would be tempted to say let us be cautious and call it off," said Baerbel Hoehn, the leader of the parliamentary committee for agriculture.
The World Cup organising committee refused to comment but Hoehn found support from World Health Organisation expert Klaus Stoehr, who said he did not think the suggestion amounted to "scare-mongering."
"We should think very carefully about what we are going to do if we have a human case of avian influenza," he said.
The 2006 World Cup is expected to bring some three million football fans to Germany, and the country has been preparing to host the event since 2000.
The dangerous H5N1 strain of bird flu reached German shores last week, and by Tuesday 103 dead birds had tested positive for the disease.