AVMA: Maintain appropriate funding to agencies protecting animal and human health Washington, D.C. — Cuts to agencies protecting the nation's animal and human health will have a harmful impact on the ability to provide a safe and secure food supply according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).
"Deep cuts to these agencies will have deleterious impacts on their ability to carry out the wide array of key functions including ensuring that meat, eggs and dairy products are safe for human consumption as well as their ability to oversee the health of the animals that produce these products so integral to our nation's diet and economy," said Dr. W. Ron DeHaven, AVMA chief executive officer in a letter sent to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
The AVMA encourages committee members to spare the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), as well as the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at the Food and Drug Administration work from further cuts citing that any deeper cuts could severely hamper and put at risk the nation's food supply.
To read AVMA's letter in its entirety, click here. For more information on AVMA's Advocacy efforts, visit http://www.avma.org/advocacy/federal/legislative/112th/agenda.asp.
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The AVMA, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest and largest veterinary medical organizations in the world. More than 81,500 member veterinarians worldwide are engaged in a wide variety of professional activities.
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