May 6, 2010

Animal disease traceability will soon become mandatory for animals that cross a state or tribal nation boundary in the US, according to the Department of Agriculture.

This is to help protect animal health during foreign animal disease outbreaks, emerging or re-emerging disease outbreaks, and acts of agricultural or biological terrorism.

The state-based network is being developed to replace the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), a voluntary federal animal tracking system that attracted participation from only about a third of the nation's livestock and poultry producers. It will be up to state and tribal nation officials to decide how to meet USDA's minimum requirements. The AVMA advocated for implementation of a mandatory system that could quickly trace the movements and locations of ill and exposed animals during a disease outbreak.

Dr W. Ron DeHaven, AVMA CEO, has said that a mandatory animal identification system could save millions of animals and billions of dollars through quick disease containment and eradication. Following the announcement that the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was cancelling the NAIS, Dr DeHaven expressed concerns about communication and coordination among states and tribal nations with separate disease tracing systems, but he said the AVMA would consider endorsing the plan when more information was available.

While Rep. Glenn W. Thompson of Pennsylvania, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, had objected to implementation of a mandatory NAIS because of cost and privacy concerns, he also expressed his view that the new animal tracing system could be acceptable, depending on details that he expects will emerge from a USDA-APHIS proposal this fall.