On Thursday a bipartisan group of Senators brought forward a bill designed to prevent the introduction of foot-and-mouth disease into the U.S. from Argentina. The bill requires the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to certify that every region of Argentina is free of FMD without vaccination. Until that time, the bill would prohibit importing any ruminant or swine animals or their meat.
"FMD is recognized internationally as one of the most contagious diseases of cloven-hoofed animals and it bears the potential to cause severe economic losses to U.S. cattle producers," says Max Thornsberry, President of R-Calf USA. "This piece of common-sense legislation recognizes that the most effective prevention measure against this highly contagious disease is to ensure that it is not imported into the U.S. from countries where FMD is known to exist or was recently detected."
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