Vaccines to protect poultry against bird flu must be subjected to quality controls by independent laboratories, especially in China, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said Wednesday.
The Rome-based United Nations food agency said it supported China's massive campaign to immunize some 5.2 billion birds in a first phase and a total of 14 billion birds within the year.
China has seen 21 outbreaks of avian influenza since the beginning of this year and the third human death from bird flu was reported Wednesday.
But the FAO's head of veterinary services, Joseph Domenech, said that it was "absolutely necessary to control the vaccines" in a proper manner.
"The quality controls must be done in independent laboratories, not in laboratories where the vaccines are produced," he told delegates from FAO member countries.
Domenech said all vaccines used in China have been made in Chinese laboratories and that the vaccines have not "all been controlled in an independent manner".
Several experts have already stressed the risk of the bird flu virus spreading faster if the poorly made vaccines are given to the animals.
