ADWA ACTION ALERT

Join Our Online Community Receive action alerts, tips, news and special offers via e-mail.

R-CALF: Producers' Interests Represented At Obama-Biden Agriculture Transition Team Meeting

Washington, D.C. - R-CALF USA was one of about 25 agricultural organizations invited to participate in a meeting here Monday in which the goal was to recommend to the Agriculture Secretary-designee reforms to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) once President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January 2009.
 
"The Obama-Biden Transition Team is putting together a briefing paper to give to whomever Obama selects to be the next Secretary of Agriculture, and that person will use the briefing paper as a starting point with regard to what needs to be changed within USDA first," said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard, who represented the group at the meeting. "Besides the necessary changes to USDA, the focus of the meeting also was to discuss what the new Agriculture Secretary will need to do immediately to begin to implement and accomplish what Obama said he would do during his election campaign."
 
R-CALF USA recommended that the new USDA make the following changes within the four USDA departments that impact the U.S. live cattle industry:
 
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS):
  
Immediately rescind APHIS' over-30-month rule (OTM Rule) that allows the importation of cattle and beef from Canadian cattle that have a higher risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). In R-CALF USA et al, vs. USDA, the U.S. District Court ordered USDA to reopen its OTM Rule, and the public comment period for the court-ordered rulemaking closed on Nov. 17, 2008.
 
Immediately halt APHIS' efforts to impose a one-size-fits-all National Animal Identification System (NAIS) program on U.S. livestock producers and redirect all funds presently used for this purpose to encourage state animal health officials and Tribes to improve their livestock traceback capabilities by improving existing disease control systems, such as the brucellosis surveillance program. 
 
Promulgate regulations to require APHIS to assist private persons to voluntarily test for diseases such as BSE. 
 
Reaffirm, by regulatory action, APHIS' congressional mandate to prevent the "introduction" of foreign animal diseases like BSE and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) into the United States. APHIS has defied this mandate in its OTM Rule by establishing a much weaker standard - that of preventing the "establishment" of foreign animal diseases in the United States after they are allowed to be introduced.  
 
 
Full text:
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/Content.asp?ContentID=275282
 
Exotic Wildlife Association Contact Information
phone: 830-367-7761