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Progress on the Hill

By Dr. Mark Lutschaunig, Director of the GRD

"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber." -Plato

This has been a good month for the veterinary profession. The Veterinary Services Investment Act was introduced in the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support. This important piece of legislation will help to provide veterinary services to underserved geographic and professional areas of the profession. In addition, the final FY 2010 Agriculture Appropriations bill contained $4.8M for the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (NVMSA); $1M for the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD); and $495,000 for the National Research Support Project-7 (NRSP-7). NRSP-7 identifies animal drug needs for minor species and minor uses in major species, generates and disseminates data for safe and effective therapeutic applications, and facilitates FDA/CVM approvals for drugs identified as a priority for a minor species or minor use.

We are pleased with these successes and thank Congress for its support of the veterinary profession. But we could not have done it without you. More than 90 groups have endorsed the Veterinary Services Investment Act. This makes our job much easier. When Members of Congress and their staffs see the tremendous support for the legislation, they realize that the legislation is important and will address a significant need in our country. We also had a number of individuals contact their Members to ask them to cosponsor the legislation. This grassroots support is essential if we are going to advance the profession's legislative agenda.

Over the past few years, we have seen numerous instances when grassroots support helped move legislation or attain appropriations for our programs. Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House, once stated "All politics is local." We see this day-in and day-out – Members of Congress want to hear from their constituents about the issues.

As a profession, we need to become more involved in the political process - both at the state and federal levels. The AVMA Congressional Advocacy Network was formed to help advocate for the profession's issues. It is not hard to join, costs nothing except a bit of time, and is an essential tool to advance our legislative agenda. Join today, and make your voice heard!

For more information, please contact Dr. Mark Lutschaunig.

Senators Introduce Veterinary Services Legislation

Last month, U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced a Senate bill, the Veterinary Services Investment Act (VSIA), which will confront critical veterinary service shortages.

VSIA would establish a new grant program to assist states in addressing their unique veterinary workforce needs. Grants awarded under the program could be used for activities such as recruiting veterinarians to work in underserved areas, bolstering food safety and conducting surveillance of animal disease.

Broad, bipartisan support for VSIA has grown substantially since a companion bill, H.R. 3519, was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in July. Since its introduction, 30 representatives have signed on as co-sponsors for the bill.

Support for the legislation among stakeholder groups also remains extraordinarily high. At present, 92 veterinary and agricultural groups have joined the AVMA's letter endorsing the VSIA.

In the Senate, 22 senators have so far committed to co-sponsoring the bill as introduced by Stabenow and Thune. Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN), Max Baucus (D-MT), John Barasso (R-WY), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Bernard Sanders (I-VT) and John Tester (D-MT) have all signed on to support VSIA.

"Senators Stabenow and Thune and their colleagues are voicing support for maintaining public health, food safety and animal health by bolstering the veterinary workforce," said Dr. Ron DeHaven, AVMA Chief Executive Officer. "The Veterinary Services Investment Act will significantly help bring much needed veterinarian services to areas of our country in need."

"Too many rural communities lack adequate veterinary services that are important to our agricultural industry in Michigan," said Stabenow. "This legislation will address this shortage in veterinarian care, create good-paying jobs and invest in food safety."

"Many people in rural states like South Dakota depend on healthy animals for their livelihood," said Thune. "This legislation will help draw and retain veterinarians in rural areas, increase the availability of veterinary education and help veterinarians use technology to expand the reach of their practices."

Under the VSIA, veterinary clinics in rural areas and state, national, allied or regional veterinary organizations, specialty boards or veterinary medical associations would be eligible to apply for grants. Veterinary colleges, university research and veterinary medical foundations, departments of veterinary science and comparative medicine, state agricultural experiment stations, and state, local and tribal government agencies would also be eligible to apply for grants.

For more information, please contact Gina Luke.

PAMTA Update

By Dr. Ashley Shelton, Assistant Director of the GRD

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28th) has requested the Government Accountability Office (GAO) review the status of federal efforts to track and monitor data on antibiotic use in animals and report on their progress in assessing and mitigating the human health risk related to antibiotic use in animals. Specifically, she would like for the study to address the following key areas:

• What data exist on the types and quantities of antibiotics used in food animals and on the purposes for which they are used?
• What further data do USDA, FDA and CDC believe are needed to assess and mitigate the risks to humans from antibiotic use in animals and what efforts are under way or are needed to collect these data?
• To what extent is USDA monitoring food animals and meat for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogens, such as E. Coli, Campylobacter, Salmonella and Listeria?
• How effectively is FDA overseeing industry compliance with currently approved animal antibiotics and uses for these antibiotics?
• What is FDA's plan and timeframe for re-evaluating the antibiotics (and antibiotic uses) that it has approved for animals?
• What efforts have USDA, FDA and CDC taken to assess the human health risks related to antibiotic use in animals, and what have the assessments shown?

An April 2004 GAO report entitled "Federal Agencies Need to Better Focus Efforts to Address Risk to Humans from Antibiotic Use in Animals" found that certain bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics can be transferred from animals to humans, but that researchers disagree about the extent of harm to human health this transference presents. The report acknowledged that federal agencies had made progress in monitoring antibiotic resistance, but that they lacked important data, such as type, quantity of and purpose for use of antibiotics by species. GAO asserted that this data is needed to determine linkages between use in animals and emerging resistant bacteria and to help assess human health risks. According to the GAO, none of the recommendations from this study were implemented.

Congresswoman Slaughter introduced H.R. 1549, the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), in March and held a hearing on the legislation in July. There are 50 co-sponsors of the legislation, which is being considered by the House Energy and Commerce and Rules Committees, of which the Congresswoman is Chair. S. 619, the Senate version of the bill, was also introduced in March by Senator Edward Kennedy (MA). The bill has 4 cosponsors and is being considered by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

We encourage you to join us in telling Congress to vote "NO" on PAMTA. Take action by clicking the link below and entering your zip code. http://avmacan.avma.org/avma/issues/alert/?alertid=13873126

For more information, please contact Dr. Ashley Shelton.

National Academy of Sciences Briefing on Global Surveillance

By Virginia R. Kiefer, AVMA GRD Extern

As a current veterinary student extern at the AVMA GRD, I had the incredible opportunity to attend a public briefing on the report entitled "Sustaining Global Surveillance and Response to Emerging Zoonotic Diseases."

The report was written and presented by a National Academy of Sciences committee. The members of the committee included experts from human and veterinary medicine as well as public health. The co-chairs were Gerald Keusch, M.D., associate provost for global health at Boston University and associate dean of the School of Public Health at Boston University, and Marguerite Pappaioanou, D.V.M., M.V.P.M., PhD, executive director of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). The other committee participants were Terry McElwain, D.V.M., PhD, executive director of the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and director of the Washington Animal Health Research Center at Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Peter Dasczak, PhD., president of the Consortium for Conservation Medicine and Ramanan Laxminarayan, PhD., M.P.H., senior fellow for Resources for the Future.

The report addressed the need for a better coordinated global system to effectively prevent, detect and respond to zoonotic infectious disease outbreaks. Zoonotic pathogens have caused more than 65 percent of emerging infectious disease outbreaks in the past six decades. Several findings were presented that illustrated the fundamental deficiencies in current global disease surveillance systems. The typical method of response has involved responding to an outbreak after it has already affected widespread human populations instead of early detection of zoonotic diseases in animals. There has been poor communication between animal and human health laboratories across the globe and no central agency to coordinate global surveillance efforts. Additionally, insufficient laboratories exist in areas of high disease prevalence. According to the report, the United States should spearhead efforts to address these deficiencies in order to be proactive against the emergence and spread of zoonotic disease.

The report further delved into strategic approaches that should be taken to strengthen global zoonotic disease surveillance and response. These approaches include determining the magnitude and distribution of disease drivers, strengthening surveillance in underdeveloped countries, heightened surveillance in animal populations, sharing human and animal surveillance information in real-time and engaging other science-based nongovernmental organizations to provide additional geographic reach and field expertise to carry out these surveillance activities. In order to stimulate forward action on these approaches, 12 recommendations were made. The 3 high-priority recommendations involved establishing surveillance and response strategies, establishing sustainable funding resources and creating a coordinating body for global zoonotic disease surveillance and response.

The presentation was a terrific reminder of the integral role veterinarians have in One Health, preventing the control of the spread of disease from animals to humans around the globe. It was also an inspiration to me in terms of the way the presentation outlined an opportunity for future leaders in the veterinary profession to make a significant positive global impact. Undoubtedly, there is work to be done by veterinarians with other leaders across many different disciplines to make the recommendations of this report a reality.

For more information, and to read the entire report, please visit www.iom.edu/zoonoticdiseases.

To learn more about the AVMA Governmental Relations Division Student Externship program, visit www.externsonthehill.com

Animal Welfare Symposium Set for Next Month

By Dr. Angela Demaree, Assistant Director of the GRD

I am taking this opportunity to remind you about the upcoming AVMA/AAVMC Joint International Educational Symposium on Animal Welfare. On the public policy stage, animal welfare and environmental issues have temporarily taken a back seat to the health care debate—that means we have some welcome breathing space to work on bolstering our knowledge base so we're ready for the next challenge.

Conducted at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center at Michigan State University, November 9-11, the symposium is designed to provide an opportunity to explore animal welfare as an evolving discipline and discuss how to best educate veterinarians to be effective decision-makers and advocates. As such, it is appropriately titled, "Swimming with the Tide—Animal Welfare in Veterinary Medical Education and Research."

The inaugural Symposium boasts an agenda with internationally recognized speakers. Topics range from how to measure animal welfare to examining fetal "feelings" to understanding regulatory assurance schemes. There is certain to be something for every interested veterinarian, educator, researcher and student in attendance. Discounted registration rates apply through October 15, so don't delay—Sign up today!

Housing and Travel information can also be found on the website, www.avma.org/awsymposium. And, the symposium qualifies for up to 18 hours of continuing education (CE) credit. For more information about the AVMA's animal welfare priorities and legislative initiatives visit www.avma.org/animalwelfare.

State Legislative Mid-Year Report Now Online

Every year, state legislatures consider thousands of proposals. So far in 2009, state legislators have introduced 142,000 bills, with 27,300 adopted into law. Of course, a good number of these proposals affect animals in some way, and in some cases, veterinary medicine specifically. The State Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Department in the AVMA Communications Division has just published its mid-year report highlighting significant bills and regulatory decisions. You can access the report by clicking here. The AVMA monthly state legislative updates, along with mid-year and year-end reports, are posted here.

Join us on Facebook

Join the hundreds of supporters of the Congressional Advocacy Network (AVMA-CAN) – including hundreds of people not affiliated with the veterinary profession – on the popular social networking site Facebook! The AVMA-CAN Facebook page is open to all Facebook users, so we encourage you, your family and friends to join our group to help advance the profession of veterinary medicine. Find AVMA-CAN's Facebook page here.

Autumn in DC

Autumn has arrived in our nation's capital. While the air might be cool, the political temperature is still hot from all the fiery debates raging up the steps of the Capitol. But rather than focus on the political casualties that fall like leaves from an October tree in this town, let's talk about some of the lighter fare that we've been enjoying.

First, we'd be greatly remiss if we didn't discuss the fabulous reception thrown by the Animal Health Institute (AHI) last week on the Hill. AHI's annual Pet Night on Capitol Hill is always a fun and easy way to interact with a who's who of Washington Big Shots – not to mention a couple of big animal stars. In a room packed with Members of Congress, veterinarians and stakeholders from the animal health community, the real stars were the furry, flop-eared ones.

Raleigh, a cat from the hit TV show "The Office," and Rocky, the dog "Ahnold" from the HBO show "Entourage," definitely stole the show at AHI's Pet Night. We've said it time and again and you know it too – no one can resist a cute dog and cat. And the maxim plays as well on Capitol Hill as anywhere else. Congrats to AHI for hosting another great event!

On the same day as pet night last week, the AVMA GRD hosted its semi-annual President's Roundtable discussion with leaders of the veterinary community. Here's another thing you can be sure of: when we assemble in one room the community of high-level DC veterinarians, a great discussion always takes place. Thanks to all who attended... vets who work for the government and for nonprofits and for industry and in private practice were all there.

And, finally, this column wouldn't feel complete if we didn't end it with a bad pun, so here it is. With Halloween just around the corner, we certainly hope that Congress brings us a treat by continuing to advance our legislation. No tricks!!! Happy October.

Legislative Update

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