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The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) represents the veterinary medical profession, including approximately 74,000 member veterinarians, or approximately 86 percent of the veterinary medical professionals in the United States. The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) coordinates the affairs of North American veterinary medical colleges, departments of veterinary science, and animal medical educational centers, and fosters their teaching, research, and service missions nationally and internationally. AVMA and AAVMC are dedicated to improving human and animal life by addressing the interests of animals as well as those of pet owners, livestock and poultry producers, zoo, recreational and theme park owners, and consumers of food and fiber derived from animals. AVMA and AAVMC have a long history of commitment to improving food safety and security, advancing veterinary medical education, enhancing animal and human health and well-being, strengthening biomedical research, and fostering environmental quality.
These research priorities were initially developed in 1994-1995 by the AAVMC, with input from the AVMA Council on Research and other members of the veterinary medical research community, including the Board on Veterinary Medicine of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC). They are comprehensive, yet include targeted areas for problem solving. The priorities, which were first modified as a result of the December 1996 conference "Critical Issues in Veterinary Medical Research," include not only contemporary animal agriculture, but also other allied health issues, which involve modern veterinary medical research. Additional modifications were developed in 2006, in part on the basis of several recent National Academies studies,* and address the need for funding in the following areas, which are listed in no particular priority order:
- Food Safety and Food Security for All Americans
- Safe Animal Products for All Americans
- Quality Food from Animals for a Global Market
- Environmental Quality and Agriculture, Animal and Human Health, and Biodiversity
- New and Re-emerging Zoonotic Diseases
- New and Re-emerging Diseases of Livestock
- Pets—Valued Companions for Americans
- Food Animal Well Being
- Federal Financial Education Aid Programs for Veterinary Medicine
- Biodefense against Bioterrorism
- Comparative and Laboratory Animal Medicine
The AVMA will continue to promote the Research Priorities: American Veterinary Medical Association/Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges document through lobbying activities and make funding for agricultural research, especially pertaining to animal health, in the annual Appropriations and Budget Reconciliation Process, a priority for the GRD.
- Issue: Food Safety and Food Security for All Americans
Foods derived from animals, are essential to the health and well-being of American citizens. While the U.S. produces the most abundant and safest food supply in the world and food borne diseases are associated with only a very small fraction of the total food consumed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are as many as 76 million cases of food borne illnesses, with 5,000 deaths and that these illnesses result in $6.9 billion in health care costs and job related absenteeism annually (www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodborneDisease/overview.htm; accessed November 2006). Without effective intervention, these statistics will escalate in the future as the overall U.S. population increases concomitant with more people who are aged, are immunosuppressed, or have reduced resistance to disease for other reasons.
The food production systems have become more complex as our society has become more urbanized, with modifications in processing, distribution, retailing, preparation, and final handling by the consumer. Contamination of the food can occur at any step of this continuum, and research is needed to develop intervention strategies at each step. While veterinary medicine has historically been an important component of the post-harvest phase of food safety through the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service and Public Health responsibilities, it is also particularly well positioned to work with Producers to address the pre-harvest or production phase of food safety on farms. On-farm food safety programs need to be developed that will lead to production of high quality foods that enter the food chain free of microbial or chemical contaminants. Ultimately, on-farm Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) programs need to be developed for specific microbes and chemicals. These programs must be established through involvement of interdisciplinary research teams that integrate economic factors, animal well-being considerations and environmental issues.
Unfortunately, little is known about the conditions that foster the survival and distribution of microbial contaminants. This knowledge will be essential to reduction and possible elimination of these contaminants from our food animals and thereby from the U.S. food supply. Research must be done to develop effective and comprehensive monitoring and surveillance systems for the effective control of food borne diseases.
Secure animal agriculture food production is the basic essential element for the 13.1% of the GDP of the national economy, 16.9% of national employment, $140 billion in exports, public health and free society of the U.S., a responsibility that veterinary medicine has long assumed with little recognition, yet sustaining this role will require huge increases in resources to meet the needs of the nation.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Important food borne diseases such as brucellosis, trichinosis, beef and swine measles, and botulism have been significantly reduced almost to the point of elimination because of inspection, regulation, education, or processing technologies that have been implemented.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- Establish comprehensive monitoring and surveillance systems for control of food borne diseases, including antibiotic drug resistance.
- Develop rapid, simple, sensitive, and specific diagnostic/detection techniques for identifying food borne hazards.
- Develop more models of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point systems, and Risk Assessment for Food Borne Diseases.
- Increase basic information on the ecology and epidemiology of food borne microbial causes of disease.
IMPACTS:
- Improvement of livestock and poultry well-being, and the health of people,
- Enhanced international markets for American farmers through added value of sets food products.
- Enhancement of sustainability of livestock and poultry production systems.
- Issue: Safe Animal Products for All American Consumers
Foods of animal origin form an important part of our diet. In fact, about two-thirds of our protein and one-third of our energy requirements are met from foods of animal origin. Doctors of veterinary medicine are the only health-care professionals involved at all stages of food production and preparation; their presence ensures that the food we eat is safe and healthful. Veterinarians also participate directly in the investigation of consumer illnesses suspected to originate from food. They conduct research designed to improve investigation procedures and ultimately to prevent food borne illnesses.
It is estimated that about 76 million cases of food borne illnesses with 5,000 deaths and $6.9 billion in health costs and job related absenteeism occur each year in the U.S. The frequency is much higher in counties where sanitation is less adequate. Additional research funding is needed in the following areas to continue progress toward elimination of food borne illness.
- Diagnosis: Veterinary research scientists are working with other health-care professionals to find better diagnostic tests that can be used quickly and easily in doctors' offices, or even at home.
- Epidemiology: Veterinary epidemiologists are central to the efforts to develop good surveillance systems designed to detect and report food borne diseases, and to track movement of organisms that can cause human disease back to animal populations to understand where and how the organism can be eliminated from the food chain.
- Characterize the Causative Agent: New technologies and animal disease models can be used to identify unusual or unique properties of pathogenic organisms that will guide efforts in disease treatment and prevention.
- Ecology: Veterinary epidemiologists, microbiologists, pathologists, and clinicians are working to prevent food borne diseases by locating and eliminating the causative organisms from their food handlers at all stages of the food chain.
- Intervention: Control and elimination of cases of food borne illness can be brought about through prevention program such as: Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems; vaccinations; irradiation; pasteurization; sanitary practices; altered management practices; and food-handler education.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Use of ionizing irradiation for food pasteurization.
- Development of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) approach to food safety.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- Improved tests for easy detection of causative agents by physicians and veterinarians.
- Develop and implement integrated monitoring and surveillance systems for the health and veterinary sectors on food borne diseases.
- Acquire more basic information on the ecology and pathogenic characteristics of causative microorganisms.
- Develop animal disease models for food borne pathogens that can be used for improved treatment of people with food borne diseases.
IMPACTS:
- Substantial reductions in the risks of acquiring food borne illnesses.
- Decreased health care cost and job absenteeism.
- Improved health and well-being of American consumers.
- Issue: Quality Food from Animals for a Global Market
With the passage of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the opportunity to expand the export of animal food products has increased. Veterinary research will optimize animal production systems to yield abundant, safe, high quality, wholesome, nutritious food that will successfully compete in global markets, and provide scientific information for control or elimination of animal diseases that may be national trade barriers
Whether one speaks of livestock, poultry, or aquatic animal systems, optimal management of growth, reproduction, and development must be cost-effective and humane. Monitoring and improving animal health, and computer-based support systems are both an integral part of the system. In addition, assessment and control of the risks of exposure to pesticides, hazardous chemicals, or pathogenic microbes will allow producers to be proactive in maintaining the safety and quality of animal products.
Targeted research funding is also critical for success. This support is important for the development of new technology and products, their testing in the field, and their transfer to producer. Funding is also needed for emergency situations where new diseases threaten the safety of food, the economy of production, or the export of product. In summary, veterinary research is needed to facilitate, expedite and/or promote approval of vaccines, and drugs for food animals and to assist in the technology transfer needed to apply new technologies to the animal production setting.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Research studies have helped to provide improved diagnostic/detection techniques for various diseases such as infectious bronchitis of chickens; abortion in pigs; a viral disease, Vesicular Stomatitis, affecting the mouth and feet of cattle; and a blood parasite, Anaplasmosis, in cattle.
- Herd health management systems have been developed for improving reproductive efficiency, and for reducing antibiotic use in dairy cattle.
- Vaccines have been developed for coliform mastitis in cattle, toxoplasmosis in pigs, and channel catfish virus.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- Develop animal health monitoring databases and programs to facilitate application of epidemiology to improve efficiency of the animal production system.
- Develop management systems, breeding programs, and immunological interventions that will enhance neonatal protection against diseases, prevent deaths, reduce production loss, and make livestock systems more economical and sustainable.
- Identify critical control points in order to design strategies to assure safe, wholesome food of high quality, and to facilitate trade of livestock products between nations.
IMPACTS:
- Provide food products that compete on the world market in safety, quality, and price.
- Decrease use of antibiotics and other drugs and chemicals in animal production and distribution.
- Improve transfer of technology from researchers to producers of animal health products.
- Improve management conditions that provide reduced inputs and higher quality output by use of database program analysis.
- Reduce expenditures of disposable income on food by all Americans.
- Issue: Environmental Quality and Agriculture, Human and Animal Health, and Biodiversity
Animals and people share the same environment; therefore, what affects the safety of air and water for people, also affects the safety of air and water of our pets, livestock, and diverse wildlife species. Consequently, animals can be key indicators of environmental health hazards. In addition, animals form a major portion of the food supply for people, and their waste products can pose pollution hazards for air, water, and soil. This interdependence of all animal life, human and non-human alike, creates many common interests in environmental health and environmental medicine between veterinary medicine and human medicine.
Veterinarians are uniquely qualified to be key players in the field of environmental quality and public health. Veterinary medicine's broadly based training programs, which include toxicology and epidemiology, prepare veterinarians to contribute significantly to a wide variety of environment related health fields. In the area of environmental toxicology and epidemiology, veterinarians are on the forefront of environmental research, assessing the health hazards of environmental pollutants, identifying environmental carcinogens, discovering mechanisms of action of hazardous pollutants, and establishing cause and effect relationships. In the area of ecosystem health, veterinarians are engaged in interdisciplinary research on behalf of human and animal health in the natural and altered ecosystems of our cities, farms, and wild areas. This breadth of involvement enables them to be a valuable resource in control, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of environmentally associated diseases in people and animals, including those associated with contaminants. Veterinary researchers need increased funding for competitive grants in environmental health in order to continue to improve human health.
Evolution of our complex society has been accompanied by generations of a variety of chemicals from industrial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, energy-related, household, and other sources, which are then discharged, into the environment. Many are directly toxic to animals, plants, and people. Others produce subtle health effects including reduced fertility, growth, productivity, and resistance to infectious diseases. Equally important is the multitude of naturally occurring fungal and plant toxins that may be present in animal feeds. The potential for various chemical and microbial hazards in recycled wastes that affect domestic animals and people remains a constant concern. Veterinary medicine is often the first to be called upon when environmental disasters involving free-ranging wildlife, marine, or aquatic species occur. Veterinary diagnostic laboratories are called upon to identify the cause of deaths and evaluate the potential threat to animals as well as people.
Environmental toxicology and epidemiology investigations are needed to assess the health hazards of environmental pollutants and establish cause and affect relationships. Many diseases of domestic animals also threaten wildlife, such as canine distemper in the endangered black-footed ferrets; brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis are also of concern. Infectious agents in free ranging wildlife such as Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorfei) and Ehrlichia species, for which deer may serve as the reservoir, are associated with diseases in domestic animals and humans. There is little or no data available to define the impact of many of these infectious agents or toxic products in free-ranging wildlife. Veterinary medical research is needed to address these and other issues of free-ranging livestock/wildlife, marine and aquatic species that are not covered by traditional animal health funding.
Collectively, animals and people breathe the same air, drink the same water, and eat from the same source of plant and animal food products. Therefore, what affects the air and water for people, also affects the air and water of our pets, livestock, and diverse wildlife species. In addition, animals have a major influence upon the health of our ecosystems-urban, rural, and natural. This interdependence of all animal life creates a common interest in ecosystem health and preserving biodiversity between veterinarians and many other disciplines, including wildlife biologists, physicians, ecologists, environmental scientists, and several others. The complex nature of modern environmental problems demands effective team efforts by scientists from multiple disciplines in order to solve or prevent world environmental problems.
Veterinarians are uniquely qualified to be key players in the field of environmental quality and ecosystem health. Veterinary education focuses heavily on comparative medicine and the influence of the environment on health. In addition to the traditional role of veterinarians as doctors to pets and livestock, veterinarians are also doctors to captive and free ranging wildlife. Their role is vital in the control of wildlife diseases, conservation of endangered wildlife species, and preservation of animal biodiversity that enriches the quality of human life. In the area of environmental toxicology and epidemiology: veterinarians are on the forefront of environmental research, assessing the health hazards of environmental pollutants, identifying environmental carcinogens, discovering mechanisms of hazardous pollutants action, and establishing cause and effect relationships. In the area of ecosystem health, veterinarians are engaged in interdisciplinary research on animal health and ecological integrity in a variety of ecosystems, from cities, to farms, to wilderness. Their range of activities include water quality for fisheries and aquaculture, reducing pesticide use on livestock and pets, effects of environmental toxins on wildlife reproduction, and infectious diseases in endangered species populations. For continued progress in environmental health, veterinary researchers must have increased funding for competitive grants in ecosystem health research.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Veterinarians have made significant contributions to understanding environmental health risks and solving environmental problems.
- Veterinary researchers have been active team members in organized responses to environmental disasters worldwide.
- Veterinarians are often the first to detect and contain newly emerging environmental diseases.
- Improved management at the livestock/wildlife interface has reduced the spread of diseases.
- Discovery that salmonella persists in recycled solid waste on livestock production units, which poses a persistent threat to animals and people.
- Improved management of animal waste disposal or recycling to reduce potential infections to animals and people.
- Veterinarians are active team members in organized responses to environmental disasters worldwide.
- Veterinarians are often the first to detect and contain newly emerging environment related diseases such as Lyme disease in dogs, pesticide deaths in birds, rabies resurgence in wildlife, mercury contamination in fish and their predators, lead poisoning in wildlife, and dioxin poisoning in horses.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- An integrated research approach is needed to understand environmental health effects on all species, human and non-human, which share specific urban, rural, or natural ecosystems.
- Integrated environmental monitoring and health data collection and analysis to identify and counteract acute and chronic health effects of environmental hazards affecting people, domestic animals, and wildlife.
- Systems to identity and monitor sentinel species most appropriate for early detection of environmental health hazards to people.
- Establish methods to characterize and reduce the human and animal health risks associated with pesticide use on farm livestock and household pets.
- Establish environmental epidemiology studies on zoonotic disease and chemical residues that cause environmental health problems of wildlife, livestock, companion animals, and people.
- Develop and apply approved diagnostic/detection technologies to identify microbial and chemical health hazards.
- Integrated multidisciplinary research on ecosystem health, which includes animal health aspects in various ecosystems-urban, agricultural, and wilderness.
- Improved understanding and control of animal health effects associated with habitat loss, over crowding, environmental contamination, exotic species introductions, reintroduction of endangered species, disease transmission in habitat corridors, and ecological restoration projects.
- Cost-effective methods for environmentally sustainable agriculture.
IMPACTS:
- Improved strategies for better protection of animal and public health.
- Improved national capacity for environmental health research.
- Early detection and prevention of environmentally induced health effects in animals and people.
- Information to manage and protect livestock/wildlife better.
- Reduce environment-related health problems of animals and humans.
- Sustainable approach to health management of the entire agro ecosystems at both the farm level and the regional level.
- Improved national capacity for ecosystem health research and education.
- Improved management of wildlife/livestock interactions for the health of both.
- Prevention and early detection of environmentally induced health effects.
- Improved animal agriculture to minimize impact on wildlife and the environment.
- Issue: New and Re-emerging Zoonotic Diseases
Over the past two decades, new infectious diseases such as Lyme disease, Hantavirus infections, cryptosporidiosis, and immunodeficiency virus of animals and man have occurred in spite of the impression that infectious diseases were largely controlled and no longer of concern. Furthermore, some previously controlled diseases have re-emerged as important health problems, mainly because of the large number of immunosuppressed individuals throughout the world. Examples are tuberculosis and cat-scratch disease, which has re-emerged in humans. Also, tuberculosis in cattle is re-emerging.
The pace at which new infectious diseases emerge in animals and man will increase due to the rise in international travel and the emphasis on globalization of trade. It is increasingly important to monitor, identify, and control diseases as they emerge. To meet the increasing challenge of new and emerging diseases, resources in the form of trained people, operational funds, and laboratory infrastructure must be provided. The emerging diseases initiative will address this challenge.
The rapid identification and eventual control of new diseases requires surveillance and monitoring of disease patterns in people and animals. Communication of information to people who are potentially affected can only be done by strengthening and expanding partnerships of veterinary medical personnel in public and private sectors with federal and state veterinary and human health professionals.
Emerging infectious agents must be characterized and their interactions with the host and the environment defined. The mechanisms by which these agents alter their disease-causing capacity must be determined. In addition, research is needed to define better the mechanisms by which microbes change, mutate, or adapt to host species, or become resistant to existing antibiotics. Targeted research grants are the key to successful control of now and re-emerging diseases.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Better detection of new diseases, such as cryptosporidiosis; human, bovine, and feline immunodeficiency viral diseases; Lyme disease; Hantavirus infection of people; and cat-scratch disease in AIDS patients.
- Early detection led to a more rapid response to these sometimes life-threatening diseases.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- Establish and implement monitoring and surveillance systems to identify new and re-emerging diseases.
- Establish networks with federal and state animal and human health agencies to investigate new and emerging diseases of animal and human significance.
- Expand training programs for infectious disease specialists.
- Develop diagnostic tests for agent detection.
- Develop vaccines and new drugs for disease prevention and resolution.
IMPACTS:
- A cohesive network of trained individuals will provide increased detection and monitoring of diseases.
- The response to new diseases will be more rapid implementation of effective control measures, thus protecting the health of people and animals and reducing health costs.
- Issue: New and Re-emerging Diseases of Livestock
Over the last two decades, there has been a resurgence in the occurrence of infectious diseases. This has occurred in spite of the impression that infectious diseases were largely controlled and no longer an issue of concern. The ability of microbial and viral agents to establish new niches or undergo genetic mutations may lead to the appearance of new diseases. In addition, there is increasing evidence that antibiotic drug resistance of disease causing bacterial agents has reduced the effectiveness of treatments of animal and human diseases. In these cases, concern is being raised about the source of the resistance factors, and whether antibiotic use to prevent diseases in animals may increase the appearance of antibiotic resistance in human pathogens.
The pace at which new infectious diseases emerge may increase in light of the recently passed World Trade Agreements. The emphasis on globalization of trade will increase shipment of commercial items into the United States. Some of these items may contain new infectious agents or the vectors of infectious agents. The appearance of new or re-emerging diseases can have an economically devastating effect on food security, leading to non-tariff trade barriers. New or re-emerging diseases can also place the human population at risk if the infectious agent is harmful to humans.
Veterinarians are particularly well qualified to address new and re-emerging diseases because of their experience in diagnosis, epidemiology, pathology, microbiology, toxicology, and disease control of many species. Targeted research funding is critically needed to identity these existing and potential disease threats.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Progress has been made in the identification of the recent re-emergence of bovine tuberculosis, bovine protozoal abortion (BPA), and a serious infectious disease of swine known as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).
- Rapid and efficient detection methodology has been developed for E. coli 0157:H-7.
- This provides the necessary tool for determining the ecology of this organism.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- Establish surveillance and monitoring system databases and rapid communication capabilities to recognize and contain, if possible, new and re-emerging diseases.
- Develop rapid diagnostic/detection test capabilities for agent detection.
- Establish standardized procedures for evaluating antibiotic drug resistance factors.
- Establish monitoring procedures and databases to determine the relationship between agricultural antibiotic resistance factors and human antibiotic resistance factors.
IMPACTS:
- Provide the resources to protect U.S. food quality and safety.
- Prevent non-tariff trade barriers related to new and re-emerging diseases.
- Assure that antibiotics used for animal agriculture are not contributing to antibiotic drug resistance in human pathogens.
- Issue: Pets—Valued Companions for Americans
Improved understanding of the human-animal bond indicates that companion animals contribute significantly to the quality of human life. People benefit greatly from service animals such as seeing-eye dogs for the blind, dogs that detect drugs and contraband, and dogs that herd sheep. As our society evolves and is no longer pre-occupied with producing food, ethical and social issues relating to maintaining or improving the quality of human and animal life are brought to the forefront.
Companion animals are in 60% of U.S. households. There are over 54 million dogs, 64 million cats, and 31 million birds kept as pets. Birds and ornamental fish are the fastest growing numbers of companion animals. Dog and cat food production is a $9 billion industry and is second only to breakfast cereal in the space occupied on supermarket shelves. In view of the continuing growth in companion animal populations, knowledge of the diseases, nutrition, and reproductive management must also grow. Veterinary research is needed on diseases of fish, amphibians, and pocket pets such as hamsters and guinea pigs. Approved, new drugs are needed to treat infections and metabolic diseases of companion animals.
Veterinarians are members of teams that are contributing to the development of better research and understanding of animals. Funds are needed for research to develop new technology that will result in healthy, happy, and functional pets. Results of this research will improve the quality of life of both the animals and their owners.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Companion animal disease research has benefited human life in many ways. These include insulin for diabetes, organ transplants, artificial hips, and kidney dialysis.
- Sentinel animals that live in the same ecosystem as humans have been important indicators of the presence of environmental pollutants.
- Biomedical research has been enhanced by the use of animals as models of human disease.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- Develop understanding and prevention of diseases in colonies of pet animals.
- Develop improved drugs, surgical techniques, and medical procedures for pets and injured or orphaned wild animals.
- Identify new animal models that will lead to technology to prevent and treat human disease
- Understand and enhance the contribution animals make to the mental health and well-being of older Americans.
- Develop improved means for controlling overpopulation of unwanted pets.
- Identify and develop measures of control for diseases of animals transmissible to people.
- Continue to deal with animal over-population through veterinary intervention.
IMPACTS:
- Improved quality of life of companion animals and people.
- Reduced spread of diseases from pets to people.
- Better methods to prevent and control human disease.
- Issue: Food Animal Well-Being
A great majority of livestock and poultry producers have traditionally taken a responsible approach to ensuring the well-being of their animals. Non-scientifically based criticisms of modern food animal production practices have raised public concerns about the humaneness of these practices. A coordinated effort involving veterinarians, food animal producers and industries, the scientific community, governmental agencies, and consumers of animal products is needed to successfully resolve public concerns related to the well-being and the humane care and use of farm animal species. Producers face major pressures to increase production efficiency in order to remain competitive in the face of low prices, changing consumer demands, and heavily subsidized international markets. Establishing guidelines for care of animals in the production environment is especially challenging because economic feasibility is essential to survival of the production unit.
Our scientific knowledge base related to food animal well-being must be strengthened. Veterinary researchers, in association with animal scientists, are well trained to contribute to studies designed to provide the quantitative data needed to realistically assess recommendations for changes in integrated production management systems which include health monitoring and disease prevention. Opportunities for grant support for animal well-being research are very limited and need to be increased.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Guidelines for raising veal calves have been established.
- Safe drugs and vaccines for several exotic and minor species have been developed through collaboration of FDA, USDA, academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, and commodity groups.
- Defective genes and genes for disease resistance can be identified through molecular tests.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- Develop a credible system of quantitative, scientific measurements to assess animal well-being through evaluation of behavior, immunology, physiology, endocrinology, and pathology.
- Based on these scientific measures of animal well-being, develop recommendations for management practices for various species under different production environment conditions.
- Determine the impact of emerging technologies, especially biotechnology, on the well-being of food animals.
IMPACTS:
- An effective "wellness program" will offset criticism by animal rights activists who question the humaneness of modern production practices.
- Optimized animal production and management systems will enhance profitability.
- Food animal well-being issues resolved now will influence the planning of U.S. animal agriculture policies for the 21st century.
- Issue: Federal Financial Education Aid Programs for Veterinary Medicine
Education of potential veterinary students remains a top priority for the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). The future level of success and competitiveness of our food and agricultural, animal, and human health sciences will be planned and achieved by maintaining highly qualified people. To provide national and global leadership, veterinary medicine must recruit and develop the bright young minds to the highest level appropriate. These students must then be challenged by competent faculty members at institutions with modern facilities and equipment.
The recruitment of biomedical scientists continues to be one of the most challenging issues facing society and the research community. Recruitment and training of additional animal health scientists are critical if veterinary medicine and the delivery of animal health care are to meet present and predicted needs. By receiving additional training funds, the veterinary profession will be better equipped to form partnerships with other health professions to solve environmental, food safety, trade, and re-emerging/new emerging disease issues that may arise.
In addition to programs offered by USDA (the Graduate Fellowship Programs, Challenge Grants and minority scholarships), the Federal Loan and Scholarship programs sponsored by the Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) continue to be of tremendous importance to the academic veterinary community. While veterinary medicine has remained eligible for loans under Title IV from the Department of Education, such as the Federal Stafford Loan Program (subsidized and unsubsidized), the Federal Supplemental Loan for Students (SLS), and the Federal Perkins Loan, there has been a continued threat of loss of eligibility in many programs under Title VII through the DHHS.
The loss of Title VII money is a direct result of the continued support for fostering the education of primary health care physicians within the Congress and the Administration. However, it also must be recognized that veterinary professional services are also very important to human health, by helping to ensure a safe food supply for the nation, by controlling disease transmissible from animals to humans, by veterinary medicine's involvement in the environment and biomedical research, by continued care for animals of critical importance to the health and well-being of the elderly, the infirm, the blind, and the deaf, and for the critical role that veterinary medicine plays with animal diseases that are non tariff trade barriers.
Without access to low interest loan programs and scholarships, student debt will continue to grow. Most students do not choose a career in veterinary medicine for economic gain. The fact is that the mean starting salary for 1994 graduates was approximately $30,000, with the average student debt for that year exceeding $50,000. With this financial reality, it is extremely difficult for students to repay large educational debts, and becomes imperative for there to be programs established to help defer debt levels. For future training of veterinarians, there must be money set aside by the government for continued education and research training experience.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Relative to the decade of contraction of the U.S. economy coupled with inflation, the federal funding base for veterinary and post-veterinary education has been seriously eroded.
- In lieu of progress, the increasing educational indebtedness exacerbated by declining federal funding for veterinary education is jeopardizing the future safety and security of the national economy and food products of animal origin.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- Low cost federal student loans for veterinary and post-veterinary education must be enhanced.
- Debt forgiveness of federal educational loans for special responsibilities, such as providing veterinary medical services in low population density areas, national research programs must be provided equally as now occurs for physicians.
- Public awareness of the roles and responsibilities of the veterinary profession in the health of the nation and the national economy must be made known nationally.
IMPACTS
- Without enhanced low-cost federal loans and debt forgiveness for special services national veterinary medical manpower will continue to decline
- Declining veterinary medical manpower will erode the safety and security of the national food supply reducing international trade and eroding the national economy.
- Issue: Biodefense against Bioterrorism
The safety, integrity, viability and sustainability of the US food supply are under grave, but unappreciated, threats. The possibility of use of biological weapons during the Gulf War, the planned use of chemical and biological agents by terrorists in Japan's subways, and a deeper understanding of the former USSR's bio-weapons program, especially agents directed to agriculture, underscore the potential threat of bio-terrorism to the U.S. population, and its food supply. The extensive border with our neighbors and the major port facilities of the U.S. contribute to an even larger threat in our nation. Genetically engineered bio-agents greatly expand the list of naturally occurring biological invaders threatening the food supply and underscore the importance of early detection and management of such bio-agents introduced into the U.S. The recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Europe and growing concerns related to "mad-cow disease" have sharply increased public concern about either intentional or unintentional importation of exotic disease to the U.S. But these two disease threats only reveal the tip of the larger iceberg of bioterrorism that threatens the US food supply. The immediate loss of public confidence in the safety of the U.S. food supply here and abroad and the economic and societal costs of present methods for eradication of such diseases, once introduced, very clearly establish the mandate for research to provide new science-based methods to prevent and expeditiously deal with such outbreaks, whether introduced through malicious intent or by accident.
The present federal and state regulatory mechanisms for preventing and dealing with outbreaks of exotic plant and animal disease provide an appropriate framework on which to build a more dynamic and responsive system for dealing with intentional introduction of biological agents into U.S. plant and animal agriculture or in the food supply between harvest and consumption. But, today's system is unprepared to deal with the broad array of potential threat agents and the widespread rather than point introduction of such agents in a deliberate attack. Methods for management and containment of diseases, once introduced, are inadequate. The unacceptably high social and economic costs of current test and slaughter methods for containing livestock disease were well illustrated in the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Europe. Improvement in ongoing surveillance, rapid detection, identification, methods for providing immunization, employment of enhanced genetic resistance, and improved management systems based on use of modern information technology, including geographic information systems are needed to prevent and deal with this threat. The existing capacities of the veterinary medical profession as "first responders" along with relevant regulatory agencies for food and agriculture in case of an attack will require major increased investments of federal and state funding to form the backbone of the capacity for building awareness, providing education on prevention and response, and in providing focused capabilities to meet the biodefense needs of existing and future complex U.S. food animal production biosystems.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Establishment of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology with $70 million/year in resources specified for academic biodefense research and education fellowship programs including animal health and agriculture.
- DHHS establishes significant funding for biodefense research against emerging and zoonotic infectious diseases.
- USDA initiates biodefense research and education against agro terrorism.
- U.S. Department of Defense identifies DARPA programs for protecting the national food supply.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- The current biodefense window of opportunity for a significant expansion of inter-federal low cost loans, debt-forgiveness, graduate programs and post-doctoral fellowships for veterinary and post-veterinary education must be maximally developed across all agencies, initiated via the Office of Science & Technology of the President.
- The biodefense research and educational agenda for biosafety and biosecurity of the animal origin food supply of the nation must keenly focused within and among leading federal agencies, such as DHHS/NIH, USDA/ARS/APHIS/CSREES, DHS/S&T, DOD/DTRA for the maximum benefit-cost efficiency of timely deliverables.
IMPACTS:
- Without increasing an educated and trained national veterinary medical work force via enhanced federal resources at university through public services entities, the safety and security of the national economy and national food supply are at serious risk.
- Enhanced federal investment in veterinary and post-veterinary research and education programs will have a very significant leveraged impact to increase the number and quality of veterinarians entering careers as principal investigators whose role is to expand the biomedical science knowledge base.
- Issue: Comparative and Laboratory Animal Medicine
Comparative medicine is the study of the similarities and differences in the morphology, function, behavior and disease between animals and man. In this way, biomedical research, clinical studies, and ultimately therapy of experimentally induced and spontaneously occurring diseases in domestic animals forms the basis for animal models of human and animal disease. Comparative medicine is especially important in the translation of basic science knowledge into applied clinical information. Veterinarians, as comparative medical scientists, can be important members and leaders of interdisciplinary medical research teams using animal models to study human diseases because of their training as integrative biologists with a broad understanding of basic physiology and pathology as well as whole animal biology.
Laboratory animal veterinarians are clinical specialists in the care and use of animals in biomedical research and often have supplemental training in comparative medicine after graduation from veterinary school. They work at universities, government research institutions, and private industry where they are responsible for overseeing programs of animal care and use. In addition to overseeing programs of husbandry care, veterinary medical care, and regulatory compliance, laboratory animal veterinarians often participate in biomedical research as primary investigators or as collaborators.
Biomedical research relies heavily on animal models of disease. The vast majority of animal based research is conducted using rats and mice although other species are also used when they provide a better model of the disease being studied. Animal models can occur spontaneously or can be produced by a variety of experimental techniques including dietary manipulation, genetic modification, and surgical modification. Animals with naturally occurring disease provide a largely untapped resource of potential models of disease.
The AVMA supports and encourages more veterinarians to seek careers in biomedical research either as independent or collaborative investigators. It further supports applying knowledge gained from animals with spontaneously occurring disease and experimentally induced conditions to enhance the development of new diagnostic tools, vaccines and therapies for human beings and animals. This will require development of a national research infrastructure to support comparative animal research including enhanced funding sources for domestic animal research, development of domestic animal disease databases, development of consortia to perform clinical trials and implementation of strategies to increase the number of epidemiologists with domestic animal focus. Veterinary colleges should diversify their curricula and foster interest in comparative medicine research among their students. They should also enhance the availability of advanced training in biomedical research and seek support from NIH to train more veterinary scientists.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS:
- Numerous examples exist of research conducted by veterinarians that has contributed to significant advances in human and animal health especially in microbiology, immunology, genetics, and public health.
- As laboratory animal specialists, veterinarians play a key role in supporting the biomedical research infrastructure at American universities.
RESEARCH IMPERATIVES:
- Develop National Institute of Comparative Medicine at NIH to coordinate and enhance funding of domestic animal research and training of veterinarians to enter the research workforce.
- Increase the number of veterinary graduates seeking advanced training in and working in biomedical research.
- Develop national databases to track domestic animal disease and identify potential new models of disease.
- Develop funding mechanisms for special colonies of spontaneous animal models to make their use more economically feasible.
IMPACTS:
- Improved understanding of the pathogenesis of human and animal diseases.
- Development of new therapies for human and animal diseases.
- Development of interdisciplinary research teams that include veterinarians, consistent with the NIH Roadmap.
*National Academies reports include:
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= AVMA/SAVMA Members Only
