REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT RELATIONS



Report of the Committee on Government Relations

CHAIR: DAVID T. MARSHALL, NC

Carter Black, GA; Richard E. Breitmeyer, CA; Stephen K. Crawford, NH; Leonard E. Eldridge, WA; Steven L. Halstead, MI; William L. Hartmann, MN; Christine N. Hoang, IL; Donald E. Hoenig, ME; Guy Hohenhaus, MD; Dennis A. Hughes, NE; David L. Meeker, VA; Bill Sauble, NM; Brian T. Smith, DC

AAVLD Attendees: John Adaska, CA; Bruce Akey, NY; Gary Anderson, KS; Tim Bazsler, WA; Craig Carter, KY; Stephen Hooser; IN; David Steffen, NE

Committee Chairs in Attendance: Mike Gilsdorf, DC; Gail Golab, IL; Daniel Lafontaine, MD; Jim Logan, WY; Elisabeth Patton, WI; Keith Roehr, CO; Harry Snelson, NC; Jim Wolfram, FL.

The Committee on Government Relations met on March 2-3, 2010 in Washington D.C. There were 26 participants in this year’s meeting. The Committee met at the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Government Relations Division (GRD) office on the first day.

American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)

Mark Lutschaunig, Ashely Shelton and Gina Luke.

The group introduced themselves and Dr. Lutschaunig welcomed the group to the AVMA Conference Center. Dr. Lutschaunig provided reports on key focus areas for the AVMA Government Relations Division, items which included:

1) AVMA has taken no position on the healthcare debate.

2) Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act, HR 2999 has been introduced in House, with19-20 co-sponsors, with the goal to establish a competitive grant program to increase capacities at veterinary schools, especially in public health.

3) Welfare: some bills are out there but nothing making progress. Equine bill is stalled, nothing on farm animal front.

4) Traceability: AVMA is very concerned with the new proposal; more information from Dr. Dehaven later in the day.

5) One position is open in AVMA GRD, with interviews being conducted now. This position will have an animal welfare focus.

Ms. Gina Luke reported on the following areas:

1) Appropriations priorities letter, top priority. VMLRP is a top priority for the 2011 budget, asking for $6.8 million. This will be a tough year and we’ll be lucky to see level funding.

2) Minor use animal drug and FARAD: AVMA is asking for $1 million but it is zeroed out in Pres. budget once again.

3) DHS: Chief Veterinary Officer was eliminated, with the role being demoted, not the function. This division has been level-funded for four years at $729,000.

Dr. Ashley Shelton reported on the following areas:

1) Food Safety bill passed in the House but Senate has their own version which passed out of committee, S510.

2) PAMPTA- nothing has changed, Congresswoman Slaughter had four veterinarians in town last week, AVMA will have a briefing at the end of March on how vets use antibiotics. AHI will also hold a briefing, PEW has a briefing today. It’s a hot topic but the future is uncertain.

Dr. Mike Gilsdorf reported on key areas of the National Association of Federal Veterinarians. Equity in federal veterinarians pay is a key issue. Monthly meetings have been held with Office of Personnel Management and federal agencies. FSIS has filled 50 positions but lost 68 due to retirements and other vacancies.

American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC)

Marguerite Pappaioanou and Brian Smith

AAVMC represents all 33 U.S. and Canadian veterinary schools, the Australian and New Zealand schools and the U.K. schools. They have 65 members representing 4000 faculty and over 10,000 students. AAVMC has undergone a strategic planning process and the focus will be on advocacy, global collaboration, animal welfare and six other areas. Dr. Pappaioanou encouraged USAHA to become more involved in supporting the North American Veterinary Medicine Consortium.. They have 42 partners and 148 financial co-sponsors. It was noted that the Humane Society of the United States is one of these.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

The Committee next met with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): Dr. Doug Meckes, Acting Director, Office of Health Affairs (OHA), Food, Agriculture and Veterinary Defense,; Mr. Jamie Johnson, Director of the Office of National Laboratories; and Dr. Sebastian Heath, Metropolitan Medical Response System National Program Manager, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). All presented on animal and public health relevant activities and initiatives.

Mr. Johnson presented on the selection process and further developments for the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Manhattan, Kansas. There are outstanding issues, in particular related to safety of operations and risk, with the evaluation of a Site-Specific Risk Assessment on-going. The diseases of interest currently considered for investigation at NBAF are Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Classical Swine Fever (CSF), African Swine Fever (ASF), Rift Valley Fever (RVF), Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), Japanese Encephalitis (JE) virus, Nipah Virus, and Hendra Virus. Other diseases / disease agents may be added as warranted based on continued threat and risk assessments. The current design and risk assessment for a biocontainment lab under good laboratory and good manufacturing practices is based on / peer reviewed by experiences and lessons learned at laboratories in Winnipeg, Pirbright, and Geelong. Challenges for operating the system exist in physical security, availability of trained personnel for all components of operation (not only scientific components) including personnel with all contractors (background checks) and inventory controls. Note that currently at Plum Island, of an approximate $45 million annual budget two-thirds is spent for operations, with only $ 10-15 million for research. Concerns were expressed by the committee about the select agent list, and needs for “common sense” / practical approach to handling those agents that may be “weaponizable” vs. those being used in research, and in particular as they appear in diagnostic materials in veterinary practice and diagnostic laboratories. Problems currently exist with multi-agency oversight.

Dr. Heath addressed FEMA preparedness grants in 16 grant programs for $ 3B and mechanisms for application and management of food and agriculture grants to States. Currently about $25-35M are disbursed to about 100 programs in 27 or 28 States. Types of equipment for which applications can be submitted are in an Allowable Equipment List posted by DHS. Dr. Heath met with AAVLD representatives to identify “big ticket items” for veterinary diagnostic work. Equipment needs to meet a set of standards and require particular approvals. Given the specialized nature of the equipment, there are specific needs for calibration and maintenance, and for service contracts, which are allowable under grant rules. Training, planning and exercises also can be funded by FEMA. [best applied for in an initial grant, not as easy to include in ‘continuation’ grants].

Dr. Heath further briefed the committee about programs at the Office of Health Affairs, oriented towards mitigation and capabilities. He referenced the FoodShield video at . He also pointed towards a call from the Office of Infrastructure Protection, soliciting data/info from States on critical infrastructure, for which diagnostic labs also qualify.

One comment from the Committee regarded the allocation of funding to local and municipal entities as opposed to staying at the state level. Dr. Heath mentioned that in successful states, the State Veterinarians are the greatest activists and critical to the allocation process.

Dr. Meckes then presented on the DHS Defense of US Agriculture and Food Initiatives. The Food, Agriculture and Veterinary (Animal & Public Health) Defense (FAVD) Division oversees and manages the Department’s implementation of Food/Ag and Vet Defense, integrating all efforts, coordinating with other departments and agencies, tribal, State and local governments as well as the private sector, and provides subject matter expertise. It derives its authority from HSPD-9 which “established the national policy to defend food and agriculture against terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies.” It is the sole lead in five and co-lead in seven of the 28 determined roles and responsibilities and is to integrate efforts of DHS components in the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate, FEMA, National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Health Affairs, and Intelligence and Analysis (I&A).

Dr. Meckes further presented an overview of the FARM Toolkit to assist State and local food sector stakeholders in identifying preparedness, response and recovery gaps; presented the Ag/Food Sub-IPT (Integrated Product Team) member components and agencies which identified 50+ capability gaps in a first process in FY07 and 70 gaps submitted in 2009 that will need to be addressed; specifically presented agricultural defense focus areas in vaccines and diagnostics, disease simulation and analysis tools, joint agrodefense and agricultural screening tools; and readdressed FEMA target capabilities list.

USDA-Animal Care

The Committee welcomed Dr. Chester Gipson, Director, USDA,APHIS-Animal Care (AC) during its next set of meetings. Dr. Gipson provided information on AC’s role and future vision regarding animal welfare and farm animal care.

USDA-APHIS-AC sees a value in engaging all parties in the animal welfare discussion as a manner of seeing 'the other side'.  USDA AC's current role regarding farm animal welfare is in shaping policy, not regulating.  USDA AC attempts to use science minus politics and emotion in its assessments. USDA AC will review state regulations upon the request of the state. Regarding the PETS Act, non-governmental organizations must go through AC to get into the state.

Dr. Gipson updated the group on the proposed Animal Welfare Center in Kansas City

• Will be used for research (USDA AC already has biophysicist and thermography experience)

• Will be used to identify policy and research needs in conjunction with universities, ARS, and others

• Will engage a breadth of scientists up front so that opportunities for finding scientists to refute data later are minimized

• Will partner with states for outreach, field studies, identification of experts, etc.

• Dr. Nora Wineland will be the Center director – she is currently working on focus group meetings, identifying priorities, developing staffing needs and work plans

• Some private groups have expressed opposition to the creation of the Center

• A prior USAHA resolution helped secure the formation and development of the Center

USDA-APHIS-AC has discussed the idea of appointing a White House animal liaison; an opportunity exists for this to be done at the Secretary level. An interagency group within USDA regularly meets to discuss animal welfare, and includes a number of agencies within USDA (AC, FSIS, VS, ARS, etc.). USDA-APHIS-AC will produce a document that shows current collaborations and relationships. Dr. Gipson noted that VS, through Dr. Clifford, is the official delegate for the United States to OIE for animal welfare issues.

The Committee discussed the idea of establishing minimum standards of care versus best management practices (BMPs) and the need for consistency of nomenclature throughout. Dr. Gipson noted that AC is prevented by law from regulating farm animals.

 

Animal Agriculture Coalition (AAC)

The Committee met with members of the Animal Ag Coalition, both in person and on the phone. While attendance was restricted due to another AAC conflict, the discussion was still productive.

Tommy Sevier, National Pork Producers Council updated the group on antibiotic resistance issues. Industry groups held a briefing with members of Congress and their staff, including 80 representatives from the House of Representatives and 50 from the Senate. The PEW foundation has also held a similar briefing. Industry groups are closely watching the legislation.

AAC has held meetings with FDA Deputy Administrator Joshua Sharfstein to answer questions about judicious use of antibiotics in the livestock and poultry sectors. FDA is interested in hearing both sides of the issue, and is exploring voluntary reduction of nontherapeutic use. The AAC is working to educate FDA leadership on how antibiotics are used in animal agriculture.

The group also addressed pending changes to the Salmonella enteritidis regulations, with concerns about testing and impacts on commerce, and Howard Maguire, U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, presented concerns of the layer industry.

Dudley Hoskins provided a brief update on the Contagious Equine Metritis and equine piroplasmosis testing. He also indicated that the American Horse Council is awaiting further input on animal traceability and will continue to engage in the dialogue.

AAC indicated that they will host budget meetings with various agencies and will provide input into the FY 2011 budget process.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA, CVM)

The Committee next met with Drs. Bernadette Dunham, Bill Flynn, Dave White, of the FDA-CVM.

FDA has recently received funding for three full-time employees (FTEs) to create a network focusing on microbial and chemical safety in feed similar to the Food Emergency Response Network (FERN) or the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN). The FDA laboratory would remain as a reference lab and it remains unclear if the new network can be integrated into the existing FERN or NAHLN, but the agency is interested in exploring those options. The agency recognizes an opportunity to work with veterinary diagnostic labs in the event of a national outbreak (such as melamine). Previously there has been no formal process for FDA to work with veterinary diagnostic laboratories. Key components of the new network include: proficiency testing, an ability to provide funding to states for validated methodologies, adverse event reporting. The new network is expected to be mostly incident based for emergency response but should be able to use the same resources in non-emergency situations as well. Non-incident based sampling was noted as a concern to industry (the example was salmonella contamination – being ubiquitous, it’s difficult to ascertain the “source”)

The agency believes in phasing in greater veterinary oversight and phasing out growth promotion uses of antimicrobials. The goal of greater veterinary oversight is to improve the judiciousness of the use of antimicrobials by allowing the veterinarian to use his/her medical training and expertise to determine when, how, and if antimicrobials are needed for treatment control and prevention of disease. The phasing out of growth promotion/ feed efficiency uses can be either voluntary by the industry or legislated. The agency desires action and would like to show progress as a strategy to address concerns related to antimicrobial use and decrease the need for legislation. Phasing in of greater veterinary oversight can be done through veterinary technicians, or certification programs. The FDA recognizes a veterinary shortage – its own Office of Regulatory Affairs is in need of more veterinarians, but encourages creative solutions. Potential solutions include electronic prescriptions or a change in the veterinary feed directive (VFD) process to minimize additional burdens on existing veterinarians. The agency expects an ANPRM (advanced notice of proposed rule-making) to be published in the Federal Register in the near future for comments on the VFD process.

AVMA (Dr. DeHaven)

The Committee was able to meet briefly with Dr. Ron DeHaven, Chief Executive Officer of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).. He provided an overview of AVMA’ s current efforts, including their future vision and policy discussion on antimicrobial use, accreditation, food animal veterinarian shortages, animal identification, and animal welfare. AVMA has concerns with the direction of animal identification, and is concerned with standards across all states and tribes. Other issues include restricted funding and the timeline to have an effective system in place. Dr. DeHaven also addressed animal welfare, indicating that AVMA will become more proactive in this area in the future.

This concluded the Committee meetings for Tuesday, March 2. The Committee reconvened on Wednesday, March 3 at the USDA South Building in Washington D.C.

USDA-APHIS

The Committee began the second day of meetings with Cindy Smith, APHIS Administrator and Dr. Gregory Parham, APHIS Deputy Administrator. Drs. John Clifford, Jere Dick, T.J. Myers and Mr. John Picanso of Veterinary Services also participated in the first session.

Ms. Smith provided updates on APHIS’ priority efforts. APHIS is revisiting direction of a number of programs including tracebility which is a high level priority. APHIS is moving back to the tried and true prior successes in tracebility, including flexibility and low cost individual animal identification. Regarding the budget, this FY is the first reduction in many years. However, USDA has historically been relatively spared and this will help focus programs on areas of success.

AAVLD communicated a desire to increase NAHLN funding and use it to somewhat level funding across multiple laboratories. The partnership with NIFA is an important component, and the Committee indicated that things are working well. The Committee stressed that the NAHLN Coordinating Council needs to be activated and remain active. Dr. Clifford noted an initial meeting of the Council is planned for late spring in Ames. The Committee discussed the need for sustainable diagnostic facilities in each state and a presence in every state even if it requires collaboration with public health or other in- state laboratories. A concern was expressed that moving surveillance testing out of state to regional centers hurts small state laboratories and is significantly impacting the ability to maintain critical expertise and infrastructure for emergency response. The Committee emphasized the need to improve communication between APHIS and laboratories regarding surveillance programs and new program or test roll outs. Communication tends to be centered with state vets, which was acknowledged as good, but lab coordination can be improved as communication between state vets and labs varies widely.

Mrs. Smith discussed APHIS’ role regarding the animal welfare and the planned center in Kansas City. The current administration has not really indicated any specific direction for USDA in regard to animal welfare. She sees a big role for the welfare center (in Kansas City) in being an educational resource regarding what is already being done in welfare research. While no significant discussions within APHIS have occurred, APHIS awaits direction and at this point is mainly focused on education and outreach. She noted that Dr. Gary Egrie was recently hired as an animal welfare specialist to focus on OIE and trade related issues. The Committee indicated concern on the possibility of the appointment of an animal welfare liaison at the White House level. Discussion followed as to the role of USDA regulating animal welfare beyond what is currently in place.

The Committee thanked APHIS for its work on the toxicology proficiency testing. This led to a discussion of the FDA-CVM concept that could utilize animal health laboratories to increase bacterial and toxin contamination capabilities, and encouraged APHIS to engage in the discussion to avoid duplication of efforts as this concept develops.

The Committee next discussed animal traceability, as Mrs. Smith sought input from the group. General comments were provided, some expressing concern and caution on moving forward. Emphasis was placed on the need for the development of minimum standards for states and tribes to follow. APHIS hopes to have a plan available for comment this coming winter.

Ms. Karen Ross, Chief of Staff, Secretary of Agriculture joined the meeting. An open discussion was held with Ms. Ross on key issues for the Secretary. These included public land access for grazing; animal health’s important role as a foundation for many of USDA programs – while it is a small portion of the budget and scope of USDA, it is a cornerstone for a safe food supply; and One Health and the importance for agriculture to be a strong voice in the discussions, with partnerships being supported between USDA, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, and others.

The Committee continued its discussions with Veterinary Services staff, including Drs. Clifford, Dick, Myers, and Mr. Picanso. Animal traceability was a major point of discussion. Dr. Clifford discussed the current vision in relation to the announcement of having a state or tribe focused system. The plan is to allow flexibility in official individual animal identification.. The 9 character alpha-numeric tags will be allowed initially, conditional upon states keeping the information to allow traceability. States will maintain the data but USDA will require connectivity. He stated that USDA would be more likely to provide noncompliant states with a database rather than providing them with the funds to buy one, and that this is not intended to be a unfunded mandate for producers. Members provided a number of areas of input and concern with the system.

Dr. Clifford began a review of the VS programs including the FY 2011 President’s Budget request:

1) Aquaculture:

• Funding decreased from $6.6 to $5.8 million

• A lab network for aquatic species is in discussion, National Aquatic Animal Health Plan. There will need to be a partnership of experts whom they still need to identify.

2) Avian Influenza: funding reduced from $60 million to $52 million; most likely the biggest decrease will be in wild bird surveillance.

3) Swine health programs: funded at $2.6 million, most is dedicated to pseudorabies efforts.

4) Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB): A slight increase in funding that basically keeps pace with inflation to $17.6 million in 2011. There are significant problems with lack of funding. Currently, there is a 26% vacancy rate for positions in CVB. Complaints have been heard from industry regarding increasing time for product approval. The Agency is seriously looking into users fees as a means to address funding shortfall

5) Veterinary Diagnostics: increased funding by $1.66 million which basically is consumed by the costs of operating the new facility in Ames.

6) Bovine Tuberculosis (TB): The Federal Order should be cleared this week and the goal is to have the TB concept paper out by the end of March. The Federal Order will relieve USDA from having to downgrade a state for having one or two positive herds. It will relieve interstate transport restrictions for modified accredited advanced (MAA) states. No language is included regarding importing animals from Mexico. VS will look at states with a wildlife component/reservoir on a case-by-case basis

7) Bovine Brucellosis: The FY 2011 budget proposed a decrease of $600,000 from FY 2010. VS is working on getting an interim rule that will allow USDA to not downgrade states based on one or two positive herds. The Committee asked about the relative impact on laboratories, as there is uncertainty about testing levels. Dr. Clifford indicated that cuts in testing performed by states are coming and it will be clarified in the near future. He also noted that the decrease will not impact the current efforts in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA).USAHA resolution 32 requested that USDA support the Consortium for Brucellosis Science (CABS). Dr. Clifford indicated that VS is supportive of the efforts of CABS, however is limited in providing funding to the research efforts.

Discussion about Brucella as a select agent migrated to a discussion of the select agent rules in general. It was mentioned that the select agent list will be opened up for comment in late 2010. Dr. Clifford suggested a meeting with representatives from CDC to discuss compromises. Dr. Dick noted that Dr. Freda Isaacs (USDA select agent director) is aware of all these issues and they are having some discussions with counterparts at the CDC. That group is looking into some sort of tiered structure to look at issues such as diagnostic specimen vs. laboratory grade agent.

8) Cattle Fever Tick Program: The budget remains strong as USDA is taking a very active role citing this program is among its top four priorities. USDA is currently performing safety testing of a Cuban vaccine that will reportably result in the death of ticks when they feed on vaccinated cattle. FDA may allow a minor species use permit for doramectin in molasses for treating deer. This compound has a 60 day withdrawal period and therefore, with the long Texas hunting season, will only be able to be used approximately 6 months per year.

9) Chronic Wasting Disease: Funding was decreased by $2.7 million and the decrease will affect both wild and farmed animal programs. The goal is to have a final rule out for discussion in a couple of months. The rule will remove most pre-emption language and will focus on further spread of the disease. APHIS desires to have the rule completed before the 2011 USAHA annual meeting

10) Scrapie: Funding is essentially stable, and USDA feels that there has been substantial progress made in disease eradication. Ten cases of NOR98 have been identified in the US, but the agency is unsure as to what this means. There may be upcoming changes in how NOR98 positive cases are handled.

11) Surveillance: A comment was provided that the goal of the swine industry is to move away from disease based programs toward identifying points in the chain that can be sampled in order to have more comprehensive testing programs. Swine producers are using H1N1 testing as a framework for a Comprehensive and Integrated Swine Surveillance program.

USDA has recognized issues with piroplasmosis in some parts of the country and therefore needs to develop a program. It is also the ultimate goal to be able to declare the U.S. free of contagious equine metritis (CEM). The Committee continued discussion of the role of the National Surveillance Unit in design of the CEM and piroplasmosis efforts.

The Committee presented questions regarding cooperative agreements, seeking changes in the structure of how they are being currently administered.. APHIS indicated that they are examining this issue with the possibility of bundling agreements, allowing limited transfers of funds between programs, and multi-year funding.

Mr. John Picanso commented on the current status of information technology. There is a dedicated workforce within USDA to support traceability. He outlined the following four priorities for IT within VS: traceability, H1N1, aquaculture, and finishing ongoing projects. USDA is currently spending resources to work on AI messaging within NAHLN. The Committee voiced concern on the timeline for progress with IT programs. Mr. Picanso acknowledged that it has not been ideal implementation, but indicated that limited resources are preventative of accelerating programs..

National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) and National Veterinary Services Laboratory (NVSL).

The Committee welcomed Dr. Beth Lautner to discuss USDA laboratory related issues. Dr. Barbara Martin was unable to attend due to travel conflicts. Dr. Lautner provided the following report.

Dr. Bill White assumed duties as FADDL director on October 25, 2009. Dr. White has most recently worked at FADDL since 2003, but also worked at FADDL from 1988 to 1994. He previously held positions in the VS Area Office in New Mexico and with APHIS-International Services. At NVSL, Dr. Brundaban Panigrahy retired as Director of the Avian Virology section on January 29, 2010. Also, Dr. Sarah Tomlinson joined the NVSL on January 31st as the Associate Coordinator of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network. Dr. Tomlinson will be located in Fort Collins to facilitate closer collaboration with Veterinary Services’ (VS) Office of the Chief Information Officer, Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health, and APHIS’s Wildlife Services. Prior to joining the NVSL, Dr. Tomlinson was the Assistant Director of VS’s National Surveillance Unit.

The NVSL continues to add enhancements to the basic functionality of the LIMS implemented in 2009. Email reporting of test results is an option with the new system. The new LIMS also allows real-time release of final reports during business hours. Partial and preliminary reports may be released after hours. NVSL continues to review submission forms to update them for current program needs.

A formal dedication of the Consolidated Laboratory and Administration Facility (CLF) is being planned for April 19, 2010. The transition of the NVSL Ames facility to a new telephone system has nearly been completed.

Facility design for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) is underway. The 15% schematic design phase was recently completed, as was an international peer review of the design. A risk assessment is required of DHS by Congress and is expected in October, 2010. It is planned that the NBAF will be operational by 2016.

Five additional labs (Rocky Ford, CO; Lexington, KY; Fredrick, MD; Center, TX; and Barron, WI) have joined the NAHLN. NAHLN Program staff collaborated with AAVLD to establish a review process for NAHLN laboratories, ensuring the development and implementation of a quality system consistent with AAVLD, OIE, and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards. The review process was implemented in 2008 and expanded in 2009. Site visits for laboratories that are not accredited (15) were completed by December, 2009. Standardized reports detailing non-conformances and requirements to maintain NAHLN status were provided to each audited laboratory.

VS Memorandum 580.4 provides the procedures for investigating a suspected foreign animal or emerging disease incident. It outlines the foreign animal disease (FAD) investigative responsibilities of Federal Area Veterinarians in Charge, the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnosticians, and the NVSL. In 2008, the memo was revised to include the potential use of NAHLN laboratories in FAD investigations. Flow charts detailing roles and responsibilities, and cross-referencing the memo, were developed in 2009 and were provided to the NAHLN laboratories and other animal health professionals.

A Train the Trainer program began in 2003 in an attempt to ensure that NVSL had qualified personnel to conduct testing and that the NAHLN training program is efficient and effective. The next goals are to implement a program to assess instructors and provide ongoing training. Newly developed training modules were used at a high-throughput training class held at the Kississmme, FL NAHLN laboratory in January. Representatives from 3 NAHLN labs participated in lectures and wet labs and were then provided with practical experience teaching others. Participants provided feedback that will be used to determine how to finalize the training materials. The goal is to make the materials available on a secure website.

The NAHLN program office, the National Agriculture Biosecurity Center (NABC) at Kansas State University, and CNA Corporation are working together to develop an exercise that will examine early, mid, and late-response activities for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), including NAHLN laboratory activation, testing algorithm development, and testing capacities. In May 2010, a policy-level exercise focusing on NAHLN involvement in a FMD outbreak will be held in Topeka, KS. The exercise will be used to develop a table-top exercise (TTX) that will be delivered to NAHLN laboratories and animal health representatives around the country. As with the highly pathogenic avian influenza exercise program, individual exercise reports and a summary report will be generated. Existing funding will support exercises at an additional 10 locations. On March 1, the NAHLN Program office will send an email to Laboratory Directors inviting them to host and/or participate in a TTX in the summer of 2010.

The FMD negative cohort study will be completed by testing at least 1000 samples per species from 5 geographically distinct areas. The goal is to conduct the negative cohorts for African swine fever and rinderpest at the same time. The negative cohort study has been delayed due to a shortage of staff. NVSL anticipates releasing informational materials for the Regions and state animal health officials during March 2010 and to start the negative cohorts shortly thereafter.

The NAHLN methods technical working group developed and implemented processes for methods comparison (previously called equivalency) and validation. Those processes were taken to the OIE validation meetings and will be used as templates in the OIE Manual of Standards. A manual on the NAHLN processes of methods comparison, validation, review, and approval, is being produced, with targeted completion in 2010.

NAHLN Program staff developed a proposal to provide training on the AAVLD accreditation process in conjunction with the AAVLD Accreditation Committee. The proposal will be discussed at the AAVLD Accreditation Committee meeting. The class would be taught collaboratively by AAVLD and NVSL personnel and held at the NVSL. During the interactive class, participants would learn about the accreditation standard, how to write SOPs, how to conduct internal audits, and what to expect during a site visit. A wet lab would provide the opportunity to conduct an audit, recognize non-conformances, and write corrective actions. Funding for the course will be provided through the NAHLN Program office. The course would be open to all, but priority will be given to participants from non-accredited laboratories. The target for initial delivery is the summer of 2010

Appointments have now been made to the new NAHLN Coordinating Council which comprises four State Animal Health Officials, nine laboratory representatives and appropriate federal counterparts. Possible dates for the first meeting of the Council will be sent to members shortly. Agenda items will be solicited.

As of February 10, 2010 the contagious equine metritis (CEM) investigation has completed testing on 928 (93.5%) of the 992 suspect horses. The NVSL has confirmed 22 stallions and 5 mares positive for Taylorella equigenitalis. USDA/APHIS/VS announced a surveillance plan to test 3,000 stallions for CEM. The project will focus on breeding stallions around the U.S. which are not associated with the 2009 CEM investigation. The results of this project will be used to increase national and international confidence in the efforts to return to CEM-free status and thus remove testing requirements for exported horses and semen. A T. equigenitalis culture proficiency test was distributed in November 2009 to 20 participants from 15 laboratories. A CEM laboratory training course was held at the NVSL in January 2010.

USDA-APHIS-VS expects to shortly release a Notice regarding laboratory approval to conduct the cELISA for antibodies to equine piroplasmosis. Approval will be limited to NAHLN laboratories that meet criteria specified in the Notice and will be restricted to testing conducted to support interstate and intrastate movement of horses. The NVSL has prepared proficiency panels for Theileria equi and Babesia caballi, as well as a training video on the cELISA procedures used at the NVSL.

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

NIFA was the next group to meet with the Committee. The meeting included several key leaders in NIFA, including Meryl Broussard, Gary Sherman, Muquarrab Qureshi, Margot Holland, Peter Johnson, Mark Robinson, Bob Smith, and Steve Smith.

Dr. Broussard began the discussion by providing the group with a brief historical overview and an update on where things stand with the transition from CSREES to NIFA:

• New NIFA stood up in October, 2009

• A presentation outlining the operational structure has been presented to the Secretary for comment/approval

• Four institutes are proposed

• The Secretary’s 5 priorities are emphasized in NIFA

• Each Institute will be lead by a Senior Executive Service individual in cooperation with a career scientist

• The goal is to complete transition within 180 days post approval

Dr. Qureshi elaborated on the animal systems portfolio:

• Dr. Qureshi indicated that these are “exciting times” to be in animal systems in NIFA, and they are still determining how all of the animal programs will fit into NIFA and the five priorities.

Dr. Robinson focused his comments on FADI and the NAHLN. The President’s budget for FADI was at the FY10 enacted level, a positive development, and the NAHLN steering committee has been dissolved, with a new Coordinating Council replacing it.

Dr. Johnson provided details on the new Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) request for applications (RFA’s), which were published on March 19, 2010.

Dr. Sherman concluded the discussion on his areas of responsibility:

• FARAD – received $1M in FY2010, but a conflict between the NIFA mission and FARAD purpose continues to exist

• Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) – the loan repayment program should be operational by fall 2010. The goal is to fund up to 50 DVMs in underserved areas during the first year.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

The Committee continued meetings with USDA-ARS representatives, Administrator Caird Rexroad, Deputy Administrator Steve Kappes, and Animal Production and Protection National Program Leader Eileen Thacker.

Dr. Rexroad presented the following ARS update:

ARS has moved into a new building at Ames, Iowa, along with USDA APHIS. The Arthropod Borne Animal Disease Research laboratory at Laramie, Wyoming will be moving to Manhattan, Kansas. ARS has allocated $1.5 million to facilitate this relocation. ARS has also received $1.5 million from the Kansas congressional delegation to help with the transition of the Plum Island laboratory relocation to the proposed NBAF facility in Kansas. ARS realizes that many of their employees at the Plum Island facility are eligible for retirement. The agency wants to preserve as much “institutional knowledge” as possible by retaining these employees when the relocation to Kansas occurs. Additionally, ARS plans to train many Kansas State scientists at Plum Island prior to relocation to maintain continuity of services during the transition. Foot and Mouth Disease research will not be done at the NBAF facility until the BSL3 and 4 facilities are completed and accredited.

ARS is investing in research on bovine and porcine respiratory diseases and is working with NADC at Clay Center, Nebraska. $3.4 million is earmarked for respiratory disease research. John Pollock is the new director at NADC.ARS hopes to be able to fund Brucella research in FY11 and be involved in the Consortium for the Advancement of Brucella Science (CABS), but no funding amount was reported.

ARS is starting a new five (5) year cycle on animal health research priorities and will be meeting with stakeholders to discuss priorities later in March in Baltimore

Agency interests and expected priorities include:

• Research on Brucella suis to develop novel vaccines and delivery methods for feral swine. A Brucella workshop will be held in Egypt this year and Drs. Eileen Thacker and Steve Olsen will attend.

• Global work on numerous animal diseases through international collaboration

• Scrapie – funding will continue through this upcoming five (5) year cycle

Domestic Sheep/Bighorn Sheep diseases – Dr. Don Knowles from ARS at Pullman, Washington will be the lead investigator. Bighorn sheep die offs from pneumonia occasionally correspond with contact with domestic sheep, but not always. It is important to determine what pathogens are involved and what other factors may play a role in the die offs. Diagnostics, epidemiology, and prevention will be key aspects of this research.

ARS recognizes that avian disease research is a high priority. The Avian Disease and Oncology Research laboratory in Lansing, Michigan is in poor repair and facing budget problems. It has been suggested to modernize the South East Poultry Laboratory at Athens, Georgia, and to move the ADORL there. Loss of current scientists and staff from the Lansing lab is a concern that ARS faces if the lab was relocated to the Athens facility.

The Committee concluded its meetings with Dr. John Clifford, who was able to join the group at the end of the day for brief follow-up discussions on details not covered during the morning session. The Committee adjourned the meeting at 4:30 p.m.

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