Rollins’ plan is a set of empty promises that will allow USDA bungled approach to bird flu containment to persist while wasting a billion tax dollars
Washington, D.C. — Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy said that Brooke Rollins’ so-called “comprehensive strategy to combat bird flu” is “as hollow as an empty eggshell.”
Rollins says the agency is “exploring the use of vaccines and therapeutics” for laying hens but it’s not approving a vaccine for use in avian agriculture. In short, it appears that Rollins is doubling down on the agency’s “stamp out” strategy that has allowed the H5N1 virus to continue its march to all 50 states over three years, resulted in a depopulation calamity in the egg industry, and the start of viral spread to humans.
“Mexico has had a fraction of the outbreaks of the United States even though American producers have heavily invested in biosecurity and are already superior to the Mexicans in that regard,” said Jim Keen, DVM, PHD, the director of veterinary science for the Center for a Humane Economy and a former USDA researcher and infectious disease expert. “It’s clear that vaccination in Mexico and France is working, and it is astonishing to me that Secretary Rollins is talking about ‘exploration of a vaccine and therapeutics’ when what’s needed is on-the-ground implementation of vaccination. Reputable U.S.- and European-based veterinary vaccines against H5N1 are ready and she can approve them immediately.”
“Rollins is bending the knee to demands of the broiler bird industry and its overstated fears of disruption in its $7 billion dark meat chicken exports,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. Meanwhile, the United States taxpayers are already on the hook for $2 billion in federal spending on depopulation and indemnification, and consumers have absorbed a $20 billion hit at the foot retail register. “With nearly every country in the world experiencing bird flu, the United States can negotiate trade agreements to keep U.S. broiler bird exports flowing, and our domestic response to this bird flu crisis will not be hampered any longer by a no-vaccination veto action by one sector of agriculture,” added Mr. Pacelle.
Here are the topline outcomes of the U.S. Department of Agriculture response so far: soaring egg prices for consumers, 166 million birds, a slow build in human infections. Despite this pitiful performance by USDA, Rollins has sidestepped the essential strategy: a working vaccine already in use by other major agricultural nations.
Secretary Rollins should hit ‘recall’ on her plan and substitute a set of actions that will do practical good for producers and consumers
- Vaccinate and reduce mass killing of laying hens and turkeys that are shrinking food supplies and driving up prices
- USDA should accept that bird flu H5N1 is no longer a “foreign animal disease.” It is now established and endemic in the United States, with 486 species having contracted it. “H5N1 will be with us in the years ahead,” said Colonel Tom Pool, senior veterinarian with Animal Wellness Action and a former chief of the U.S. Army Veterinary Command and a veterinarian and public health scientist. “We cannot kill our way out of the crisis.
- USDA should accept that bird flu H5N1 is no longer a “foreign animal disease.” It is now established and endemic in the United States, with 486 species having contracted it. “H5N1 will be with us in the years ahead,” said Colonel Tom Pool, senior veterinarian with Animal Wellness Action and a former chief of the U.S. Army Veterinary Command and a veterinarian and public health scientist. “We cannot kill our way out of the crisis.
- Develop Herd Immunity Rather Than Herd and Flock Annihilation
- The USDA has rightly opted not to conduct mass killing of dairy cow herds. Instead, there are quarantine requirements to limit further transmission routes for the virus. The USDA is suggesting that all birds die from the disease, but this is plainly wrong. Strict quarantines, without total wipe-outs of flocks, should be considered in some cases. It may be warranted at times to kill all birds in a flock, but it should not be an automatic response.
- The USDA has rightly opted not to conduct mass killing of dairy cow herds. Instead, there are quarantine requirements to limit further transmission routes for the virus. The USDA is suggesting that all birds die from the disease, but this is plainly wrong. Strict quarantines, without total wipe-outs of flocks, should be considered in some cases. It may be warranted at times to kill all birds in a flock, but it should not be an automatic response.
- Movement of Millions of Fighting Birds a Continuing Threat
- Cockfighting is almost certainly amplifying and extending the duration of the ongoing bird flu outbreak in the U.S. There are perhaps 20 million illegally possessed cockfighting birds on perhaps 150,000 gamecock operations throughout the United States, according to USDA. We know, for example, that 10 of the 15 US virulent Newcastle Disease (vND) outbreaks were caused by illegal smuggling of vND-infected roosters for cockfighting into the United States from Mexico. It is also well documented that cockfighting activity was an important risk factor in Southeast Asia from 2000 to 2010 for the spread of bird flu H5NI among commercial and backyard poultry and as a source of severe and sometimes fatal zoonotic human bird flu H5N1 infections.
- Cockfighting is almost certainly amplifying and extending the duration of the ongoing bird flu outbreak in the U.S. There are perhaps 20 million illegally possessed cockfighting birds on perhaps 150,000 gamecock operations throughout the United States, according to USDA. We know, for example, that 10 of the 15 US virulent Newcastle Disease (vND) outbreaks were caused by illegal smuggling of vND-infected roosters for cockfighting into the United States from Mexico. It is also well documented that cockfighting activity was an important risk factor in Southeast Asia from 2000 to 2010 for the spread of bird flu H5NI among commercial and backyard poultry and as a source of severe and sometimes fatal zoonotic human bird flu H5N1 infections.
- Greater USDA Transparency
- APHIS should be compelled to capture and report the epidemiologic risk of cockfighting on bird flu disease outbreaks. The USDA APHIS (and the World Organization for Animal Health) should create a unique and separate category for premises with cockfighting birds, rather than pooling them with all “backyard poultry” in HPAI and vND disease control efforts, as they currently do. This would better quantify avian disease and zoonotic infection risks created by cockfighting in spawning and propagating outbreaks, improve trace-back and trace-forward disease control actions, enhance post-outbreak risk factor analyses, and improve disease risk management.
“The bird flu H5N1 virus is no doubt a formidable pathogenic foe, but Secretary Rollins’ plan is a deep disappointment and won’t allow us to turnaround this problem,” added Dr. Keen.
Meanwhile, Rollins’ including a plan to overturn California’s Prop 12 is more misguided thinking of the Secretary. “With more than 40 percent of egg production being cage-free, overturning Prop 12 will threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of major egg producers who have collectively invested billions in more extensive housing systems,” added Mr. Pacelle. “This is not a constructive solution against bird flu, but a plan of dissolution for a massive portion of an accepted and mainstream production strategy of the American egg industry.”
Even the biggest proponents in Congress for overturning Prop 12 have relented on their plans for repealing the laying hen housing standards in California, Massachusetts, and a half dozen other states.
Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy wrote to Rollins upon her confirmation on this subject. A copy of that letter is here.