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• Veterinarians do much more than take care of the family pet.
• Veterinarians also play a vital role in preserving our country's public health by protecting humans from diseases spread by animals and assuring the safety of our food supply.
• The number of veterinarians available to serve society in these key roles does not meet demand and a recent study projects this shortage to worsen by 4% annually for the next ten years.
• The country's veterinary colleges lack the capacity to produce more food supply and public health veterinarians.
• Only twenty-seven states currently bear the cost of producing the veterinarians who protect the entire nation's food supply and public health.
• Our country's capacity for zoonotic and food animal disease research is insufficient.

• Food animal production generates $124 billion annually to the U.S. economy. The health of these valuable animals is protected by veterinarians. A single, highly infectious disease that is not rapidly diagnosed could destroy much of our livestock, resulting in shortages of dietary proteins and significant economic losses.
• The CDC estimates that 80% of potential bioterror agents are infectious diseases that spread from animals to humans. Failure to diagnose these diseases in animals before their spread to humans could result in catastrophic loss of human life.
• Homeland Security Presidential Directive-9 calls for the establishment of a program nearly identical to the VPHWEA.

• The Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act (VPHWEA), S. 746/H.R. 1232, would create a competitive grants program designed to produce more veterinarians working in public health practice and enhance our capacity for research on diseases that threaten public health and food safety.
• In July 2007, the Senate passed a modified version of the VPHWEA as an amendment to its Higher Education Authorization bill. This bill will be considered in the House, where efforts are underway to secure VPHWEA language in it.