R-CALF USA has criticized the proposals contained in a concept paper published by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service titled "A Concept Paper for a New Direction for the Bovine Brucellosis Program." R-CALF says this concept paper does not constitute a new direction at all. In fact, the paper is counterproductive and structurally incapable of achieving the goal of eradicating brucellosis in the United States.
According to R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, USDA makes clear that the agency hopes to continue its dismantling of essential U.S. disease protections that APHIS began several years ago in attempts to comply with more liberal international standards designed to facilitate trade with countries with ongoing disease problems. Thornsberry calls the plan fundamentally flawed and should not be used by APHIS as a starting point to address the challenge of eradicating brucellosis from cattle in the United States.
"APHIS should reject this Concept Paper on the grounds that the centralized control of disease surveillance contemplated therein would inherently prolong and postpone disease traces and epidemiological investigations," Thornsberry said. "The success of the current brucellosis program can be attributed to early disease detection achieved through widely dispersed first-point testing and extensive slaughter surveillance."
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