The House Livestock and Foreign Agriculture subcommittee on Thursday hosted a hearing to discuss the federal and state response to avian influenza. Speakers included Dr. John Clifford of USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Dr. David Swayne from USDA Agricultural Research Services (ARS), Dr. Douglas Meckes from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Dr. Bill Hartman from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health.
Dr. Clifford discussed the September trip USDA officials will make to China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to discuss the possible use of vaccines should another outbreak occur. The USDA has a vaccine that it says works 100 percent for chickens and they should receive efficacy data for turkeys in a few weeks.
“The idea is to try to get our trading partners to accept a more regionalized approach and not shut off imports from the entire U.S.,” Clifford told the subcommittee. Major trading partners have said they will ban all U.S. exports of poultry and eggs if vaccines are used until they can complete a full risk assessment, which, according to Clifford, will take months.
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee, said poultry producers in his state would forgo trade opportunities if they could utilize a vaccine, unlike Southern operations that send a lot of product overseas. “My people understand the practicalities of the trade situation and pushback from some folks in the industry.”
He also rejected including poultry in the livestock disaster assistance program administered by the USDA. “Indemnity payments say to growers, ‘The sooner you alert the government you have the disease in your flock, the government takes over,’ ” Peterson said. “The incentives are right, and I don’t think you’d have that with insurance or a disaster system. Disaster programs are set up to make payments after everything is over with. There’s no mechanism to figure out what is wrong in the beginning.”
Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., the subcommittee chairman, said that questions persist regarding the efficacy of the industry’s biosecurity plans. “While many farms have exceptional bio-security procedures and mechanisms in place, some observers have raised questions regarding the degree to which biosecurity protocols are being followed. We are certainly aware of some of the resource limitations that delayed depopulation, disposal and disinfection early in the outbreak. As repopulation commences, several members have heard from constituents raising questions related to some of the challenges that lie ahead.”’
Complete witness testimony can be found on the committee’s website by clicking here.
