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1. FDA responds to industry questions on Guidance #213, revised VFD rule
By Farm Foundation
Drovers CattleNetwork.com
March 11, 2016
Farm Foundation, NFP hosted 12 workshops across the nation last fall on the new policies and requirements of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concerning the use of medically-important antimicrobial drugs in food animals.
The workshops provided more than 500 livestock producers, veterinarians and feed suppliers the opportunity to learn about the new policies directly from senior officials of FDA and USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Participants also were able to voice their opinions and ask questions about the management challenges of implementation.
During the workshops, FDA officials were not able to respond to all the implementation questions. FDA has now responded to all those questions. Review the responses here*, or on the Farm Foundation website**.
"The conversations at the workshops provided the FDA staff with detailed insights into industry questions on how to implement the VFD final rule," said William T. Flynn, deputy director for science policy at FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. "We can create regulations, but the on-the-ground insights we heard in the workshops provided us with a terrific opportunity to help producers, distributors and others get the information they need to comply with this important regulation. This helps us shape policies to achieve the most successful outcomes."
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2. Swine disease hits UW-River Falls farm [WI]
For USA Today Network
Fond du Lac Reporter
March 12, 2016
RIVER FALLS - A swine disease has broken out at Mann Valley Farm, one of the two laboratory farms run by UW-River Falls, causing the death of half the piglets.
Symptoms of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, or PRRS, were first recognized at the Mann Valley Farm in November, but reproductive problems didn't occur until recently with stillborn piglets.
A positive diagnosis was confirmed Feb. 2 and reconfirmed Feb. 10, according to Justin Luther, interim chairman and associate professor of reproductive physiology.
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3. Marking male embryos could hold solution to chick culling 'ethical dilemma' in global egg industry [edited]
By Caitlyn Gribbin
ABC News [Australia]
March 11, 2016
Each year, the global egg industry kills billions of male baby chicks because only female hens lay eggs - but CSIRO scientists say they have now come up with a solution to this major ethical issue.
Scientists at the CSIRO's Animal Health Laboratory say they can use biotechnology to ensure the males are never born, let alone culled.
Female chickens will grow to become hens and lay eggs until they are about 80 weeks old.
But Pete Bedwell, the editor of industry magazine Poultry Digest, said the useless males were destroyed shortly after they hatched.
The males cannot be grown out for chicken meat because they are bred to be small in frame, not round and muscular like meat chickens.
Tim Doran and Mark Tizard work at the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong.
The pair were studying poultry disease when, almost accidentally, they made a breakthrough with biotechnology.
Dr Tizard said an embryo could be micro-injected and a green fluorescent protein gene placed on the male chromosome.
"Sex is determined by chromosomes in chickens - and in humans - and you have a chromosome that tells you whether to be female or male," Dr Tizard said.
"We're marking the chromosome that says become male. When you get to breeding to produce the birds that will go on to lay eggs, the mark follows the males and not the females."
Once the egg is marked with a new gene, a chick will hatch, which will be used to generate a breeding flock.
When the females from that flock are included in a breeding program for layer hens, their male offspring will easily be identified by a laser by their fluoro mark.
The eggs containing males will be removed and the animal will never hatch.
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4. FDA: No significant impact from test of modified mosquitoes (Update)
March 11, 2016
A field trial releasing genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys would not harm humans or the environment, according to documents released Friday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The agency's Center for Veterinary Medicine released a preliminary finding of no significant impact for the field trial on a method that aims to reduce populations of the mosquito that spreads dengue, chikungunya and the Zika virus among humans. The trial is proposed by the British biotech firm Oxitec. The Florida Keys Mosquito Control District wants to test Oxitec's mosquitoes in a small neighborhood north of Key West.
The FDA still needs to review public comments on Oxitec's proposal before deciding whether to approve that trial.
Oxitec modifies Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with synthetic DNA to produce offspring that won't survive outside a lab. Oxitec has conducted similar tests in Panama, Brazil and the Cayman Islands.
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5. Penn Vet Team Promotes One Health Concepts in Education
Media Contact:Katherine Unger Baillie
Penn News
March 11, 2016
What can a scattering of dead pigeons mean for human health? Sometimes, a lot.
Two researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine are advancing the concept of One Health, the idea that the health and well being of humans, animals and the environment are interconnected. Penn Vet's Stephen Cole, a postdoctoral fellow, and Shelley Rankin, an associate professor of microbiology, have recently developed two case studies for use in health education that highlight these cross-disciplinary connections.
"In the veterinary field we talk about One Health almost every single day, but there are few people in the medical profession who actually understand what that means," Rankin said. "With these case studies, we can really demonstrate why One Health is a meaningful concept for clinicians across fields."
In medical training, a case study approach to learning asks students to imagine that they are already practicing professionals and walk through how they would handle a challenging scenario.
Cole, who graduated from Penn Vet with a V.M.D. in 2015, felt that students could benefit from more exposure to case studies in their education as a chance to truly engage with the material they learn in lectures.
"I wanted to put together case studies to make the material more tangible and really bring the One Health concept to life," Cole said.
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6. NOTICE: Phase II National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) Equine 2015 Study
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Bulletin
March 10, 2016
This May, the USDA's National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) will launch the second phase of its Equine 2015-2016 study, NAHMS third national study of the U.S. equine industry.
The second phase of the study was postponed because of last year's highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak, which led to the largest response to an animal disease emergency in U.S. history. The response required the USDA to temporarily reassign personnel that had been tasked with collecting data for phase 2 of the study. These personnel are now available to collect the data.
As with NAHMS' 1998 and 2005 equine studies, Equine 2015-2016 was designed to provide participants, industry, and animal-health officials with information on the nation's equine population that will serve as a basis for education, service, and research related to equine health and management, while providing the industry with new and valuable information regarding trends in the industry for 1998, 2005 and 2015-2016.
Seven study objectives were identified:
Describe trends in equine care and health management for study years 1998, 2005, and 2015.
Estimate the occurrence of owner-reported lameness and describe practices associated with the management of lameness.
Describe health and management practices associated with important equine infectious diseases.
Describe animal health related costs of equine ownership.
Evaluate control practices for gastrointestinal parasites.
Evaluate equines for presence of ticks and describe tick-control practices used on equine operations.
Collect equine sera along with equine demographic information in order to create a serum bank for future studies.
For operations that agreed to participate in phase 2 of the study, data collection will begin May of this year and continue through September 30. Representatives from USDA's Veterinary Services will administer the phase 2 questionnaire, perform a facility biosecurity assessment, collect equine blood and fecal samples, perform a tick exam of equine on the operation, and collect tick specimens. To detect anthelmintic resistance in their equine, operations participating in phase 2 have the option of collecting fecal samples to be tested for internal parasites, if the operations did not have the same testing done during phase 1.
For additional information on this topic, contact Joelle Hayden at (301) 851-4040 or e-mail: Joelle.r.Hayden@aphis.usda.gov; or contact Dr. Josie Traub-Dargatz at (970)494-7000 or email: Josie.Traub-Dargatz@aphis.usda.gov.
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7. Brucellosis and Bovine Tuberculosis; Update of General Provisions [comment period extended]
Federal Register Volume 81, Number 48 (Friday, March 11, 2016)
Proposed Rules
Pages 12832-12833
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-05534]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
9 CFR Parts 50, 51, 71, 76, 77, 78, 86, 93, and 161
Docket No. APHIS-2011-0044
RIN 0579-AD65
Brucellosis and Bovine Tuberculosis; Update of General Provisions
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Proposed rule; extension of comment period.
SUMMARY: We are extending the comment period for our proposed rule that would consolidate the domestic regulations governing bovine tuberculosis and those governing brucellosis and revise the bovine tuberculosis- and brucellosis-related import requirements for cattle and bison to make these requirements clearer and assure that they more effectively mitigate the risk of introduction of these diseases into the United States. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.
DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule published on December 16, 2015 (80 FR 78462) is extended. We will consider all comments that we receive on or before May 16, 2016.
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