Ron DeHaven

I am very pleased to share the first Veterinary Services Annual Highlights Report. This report is designed to provide stakeholders and the general public with an overview of the many and varied ways the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Veterinary Services (VS) fulfilled its mission to protect and improve the health of the Nation's animals, animal products, and veterinary biologics in fiscal year (FY) 2002. I hope you find it useful.

In FY 2002, as in years past, we sought new ways to strengthen our collaborative efforts with other Federal and State agencies, Tribal Nations, industry, and professional groups to increase the health of the United States’ livestock and poultry. These partnerships and alliances amplify our efforts to insure that the United States has a safe and affordable food supply. At the same time, VS plays an active role in making sure that international animal health standards represent the interests and concerns of our country through interaction with veterinarians worldwide and by our participation in meetings of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), the international standards-setting organization for animal health.

VS undertook several endeavors to strengthen Federal-State relations including developing a National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) with the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD), having regular conference calls with State veterinary diagnostic laboratories and State Veterinarians, and intensive training in emergency management and the Incident Command Structure (ICS). This joint approach to emergency management is critical to meeting urgent and increasing demands on Federal resources, and was a cornerstone of the success of this year’s Avian Influenza Task Force.

During this past fiscal year, VS has continued its vigilance in safeguarding American agriculture. VS conducted two “table-top” exercises to test our preparedness for an animal disease outbreak, each of which refines our readiness to respond. VS is making a transition from 2 regional emergency response teams—the READEO (Regional Emergency Animal Disease Eradication Organization)—to a 50-State response system using ICS. We have also distributed approximately $18.5 million in Homeland Security State cooperative agreements to enhance disease surveillance and emergency preparedness capabilities with U.S. States, territories, and Tribal Nations.

In FY 2002, VS began implementing recommendations from the Animal Health Safeguarding Review conducted by the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). Seven issue groups are developing action plans to address the issues raised by the review. States and industry have been thoroughly involved throughout the Safeguarding Review process, which began in late 2000. The entire process is giving us the opportunity to develop a world-class system of exclusion, detection, surveillance, diagnosis, and response.

Last spring and summer, VS coordinated the Avian Influenza Task Force in Harrisonburg, VA, to battle low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI). While LPAI is not an OIE reportable disease, several countries’ trade restrictions required that we respond in virtually the same way as we would for a high pathogenic outbreak. Some 800 Federal and State personnel were part of the task force, and the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) tested approximately 40,000 samples during the course of this successful 4-month eradication effort.

VS has also undertaken major efforts in response to chronic wasting disease (CWD). With the Department of the Interior (DOI), VS presented a management plan to Congress detailing how Federal agencies can assist States and help develop consensus-based approaches that States and industry may adopt to manage the disease. VS has helped develop a template for States to use to in their surveillance strategies for this disease in wild cervid populations. At the same time, laboratory capacity dramatically expanded after 15 State veterinary diagnostic laboratories were certified. This expanded capacity is being used for testing of hunter-killed cervids in addition to the samples for our surveillance purposes. Additionally, VS expedited the review of a new test kit for use in approved laboratories.

During the past fiscal year, VS took steps to strengthen bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) systems to further reduce the risk of BSE by tripling the number of cattle tested. At the current level of testing, VS would detect BSE even if it occurred in the United States at a rate of one case per million head of cattle. The figure exceeds OIE requirements by forty-fold. For a country to claim freedom from BSE, in addition to surveillance, OIE guidelines require a risk analysis and a management strategy, and education and awareness program and compulsory notification requirements. The United States exceeds the criteria in all categories.

We are extremely pleased with the new Western Region Hub facility built on the Colorado State University campus that is now home to the VS Western Region and Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health (CEAH) offices. And, after completing a 6-year contracting process, construction has begun on the Miami Animal Import Center, which is expected to be complete by April 2003. This new $28 million facility will assist trade efforts around the world. We are working closely with USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) on the Master Plan for facility consolidation and replacement for our laboratories in Ames, IA. The plan will bring together the country’s national reference diagnostic laboratory, the national regulatory body for all animal vaccines and diagnostic test kits prepared or marketed in the United States, and the main USDA research site for the study of many important domestic animal disease.

I encourage you to review not only this report, but the remainder of the VS Web site. Should you have questions, please feel free to contact us by e-mail through the VS Web site.

Ron DeHaven
Deputy Administrator