USDA Proposes Rule to Further Enhance Surveillance Capabilities

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2002—The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is issuing a proposed rule that would enhance the establishment of a comprehensive animal health surveillance and monitoring system to determine trends and enable APHIS to continue monitoring and preventing diseases affecting the U.S. livestock industry.

In addition to allowing APHIS to detect outbreaks, such a comprehensive surveillance system would also allow APHIS to confirm the absence of specific diseases in U.S. livestock and poultry populations for countries questioning our disease status.

APHIS' proposed rule would establish requirements at slaughter facilities for the collection of blood and tissue (including brains) samples from livestock (horses, cattle, bison, captive cervids, sheep and goats, swine, and other farm animals) and poultry moved interstate.

While cooperation with the Food and Safety Inspection Service and slaughter establishments already allows APHIS to sample large numbers of animals for program diseases (such as pseudorabies and brucellosis), this proposal would allow APHIS to collect additional samples to improve its ability to detect and eliminate other significant animal diseases of concern. Because APHIS' surveillance and tissue collection systems are primarily used on eradication programs for diseases that are slowly being eliminated, APHIS could lose its presence in the slaughter establishments without this enhancement.

APHIS is also proposing that any person who moves livestock or poultry interstate for slaughter may move the animals only to a slaughtering establishment approved by the APHIS administrator. Approved establishments would provide the type of space and facilities specified by the regulations to safely collect blood and tissue samples for disease testing.

This rule would grant APHIS the authority to require slaughterhouses to provide access to all blood and tissue samples APHIS needs for optimal disease surveillance and the space and equipment in the slaughterhouses needed to collect these samples.

The APHIS administrator could also grant certain slaughter establishments exceptions to this provision if no sample collection is needed from that establishment.

Ultimately, this rule will allow APHIS to collect blood and tissue samples for any disease APHIS deems necessary. It will have a significant impact in broadening APHIS' responsibility for identifying and addressing emerging diseases.

Under the proposed rule, sample collection would be done at the slaughter plant. USDA employees or USDA-employed contractors would collect the samples.

Notice of this action is published in the Nov. 27 Federal Register. APHIS documents published in the Federal Register and related information, including the names of organizations and individuals who have commented on APHIS dockets, are available on the Internet at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

Consideration will be given to comments received on or before Jan. 27, 2003. Send an original and three copies of your postal or commercial delivery comments to Docket No. 99-017-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3C71, 4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, Md. 20737-1238. If you use e-mail, address your comments to regulations@aphis.usda.gov. Your comments must be contained in the body of the message; do not send attached files. Please include your name and address in the message and use "Docket No. 99-017-1" on the subject line.

Comments may be reviewed at USDA, Room 1141, South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C., between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. Persons wishing to review comments are requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817 to facilitate entry into the comment reading room.