restrictions on us poultry in june 2005 the united states stated that mexico was banning imports of poultry and poultry products from an entire us state in which cases of low pathogenic avian influenza lpai had been reported in some areas. mexico also required avian influenza ai testing for layer and broiler flocks regardless of whether or not ai had been reported. only two subtypes of ai h5 and h7 had been found to mutate into the highly pathogenic forms of the disease. low pathogenic strains of ai did not cause systemic disease and had not been shown to be of consequence for animal health or food safety. the oie did not recommend any trade restrictions on poultry and poultry products when cases of low pathogenic strains of ai of non-h5 and h7 subtypes were reported and only limited measures for low pathogenic strains of the h5 and h7 subtypes. the relevant scientific evidence showed that the lpai virus did not appear in the muscle tissue of an infected chicken and that neither fresh meat nor eggs imported from regions affected by low pathogenic ai posed a risk of transmitting the disease. given the scientific evidence underpinning the recently-adopted changes in the relevant international standard the united states encouraged mexico to modify its import restrictions and testing requirements. canada indicated that in march 2004 mexico had banned the importation of poultry and its products from all of canada in response to the findings of high pathogenic avian influenza hpai in british colombia. canada had kept all trading partners fully informed of the control measures it had imposed to limit the outbreak to british colombia. unlike many of its trading partners mexico had not regionalized its measures to apply to british colombia only. canada had now been free of hpai for over one year and had provided all the information requested by mexico to verify this status in accordance with oie guidelines. consistent with the oie the majority of canadas trading partners had removed their measures against canadian poultry. canada called upon mexico to do the same. mexico explained that since may 1994 when low pathogenicity avian influenza lpai had been detected in mexico specific sps measures had been applied to prevent exotic subtypes and control and eradicate the only subtype identified h5n2. mexican official standard nom-44-zoo-1995 which covered any subtype of avian influenza ai both low and high pathogenic strains had been published in 1995. in the united states various subtypes of low and high pathogenic strains had been officially identified none of which with the exception of one existed in the mexican poultry sector. the sanitary requirements established by the mexican legislation in the domestic poultry sector were equivalent to those applied for the export of poultry and poultry products originating in the states affected by ai in the united states. however the sanitary measures aimed at ensuring epidemiological surveillance and monitoring of the transport of poultry and poultry products applied in the affected states of the united states were not equivalent to those implemented in the mexican poultry sector. as the risk of transmission of ai was particularly high in live poultry and less in fresh poultry products and by-products importation of some poultry products from the quarantined states was allowed. mexico was continuing to analyze the technical information provided by the united states with a view to the opening u of exports of poultry and poultry products. this additional information had been provided by the usda during the first quarter of 2005. mexico recalled that the oie in may 2005 adopted regulations chapter 2.17.12 ai terrestrial animal health code that stipulated that all h7 and h5 subtypes of ai viruses in both its high and low pathogenic forms were notifiable as well as any ai virus with an intravenous pathogenicity index ivpi greater than 1.2. these regulations also stip