Cattlemen Can Benefit from Animal Health Funding

Demonstrating Congress’s awareness of animal health priorities, the FY 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Bill signed by the President February 20 contains funding that further enhances our nation’s animal health infrastructure. 

“Protecting the health of the U.S. cattle herd is critical to ensuring profitability directly, but also to maintaining our growing export markets,” says Gary Wilson, Ohio cattle producer and chairman of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Cattle Health and Well-being Committee.  “Animal health experts agree that we are close to eradicating diseases like Brucellosis and Tuberculosis, and we must have a system in place that will help us monitor the animals, trace diseases that are found, and control and eradicate these diseases.”

Ensuring that adequate funding is provided for the programs, facilities and personnel that are part of the animal health infrastructure, provisions in the FY03 spending bill include:

The National Animal Disease Center (NADC) in Ames, Iowa received $33 million for the modernization of the facilities.  The NADC, in conjunction with the National Veterinary Services Lab and the Center for Veterinary Biologics, is a key component of our animal health infrastructure.  Important activities such as research, diagnostics, and vaccine development occur here.  Surveillance for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) is conducted at NADC, and research on diseases such as Anthrax, IBR, PI3 and other production-oriented disease are studied here. 

NCBA has been involved in a multi-year effort with the Animal Agriculture Coalition to provide funding for this facility.  The current facility was built in the late 1950s and is beyond its useful life.  The total cost of a new state of the art facility is estimated at $430 million, and NCBA and the AAC worked to make over $157 million available.  “The additional $33 million provided is a key step in ensuring we have the capabilities to protect the health of our beef industry,” says Wilson.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) Monitoring and Surveillance Program was provided $93,826,000.  This funding provides for front line monitoring of animal health issues.  The goal of this program is to monitor for the presence of foreign animal diseases, conduct surveillance for existing and emerging diseases, and to assist with eradication of diseases.  APHIS routinely performs surveillance work for BSE, Foot and Mouth Disease and other diseases, which if present could be devastating. 

The APHIS Emergency Management System was provided $9,044,000 for prevention and response activities.  This important function establishes protocols and conducts tests and exercises on the many coordinated steps that would be taken in the event of a foreign animal disease outbreak.

“NCBA, through its Cattle Health and Well-being Committee, remains committed to protecting animal health, and controlling – and eventually eradicating – animal diseases which threaten our economy and impede trade with other countries,” says Gary Weber, NCBA executive director of regulatory affairs.  “Key components in achieving this objective are government-industry partnerships, and the research initiatives contained in the budget bill. 

“These programs will help provide surveillance, identification, containment and eradication of disease in the event of an outbreak, and the research and technical expertise to prevent disease in the first place.”