Reno, NV - The potential risk of the outbreak of a foreign animal disease, such as Hog Cholera or Foot- and-Mouth Disease, in U.S. swine herds prompted delegates to the annual meeting of the National Pork Producers Council March 6-7 to call for the immediate development of an Animal Health Emergency Management Plan.
Noting that just as individual hog farms establish biosecurity measures to keep certain domestic diseases from entering their herd from other herds, the delegates said the United States must develop a comprehensive nationwide biosecurity system to prevent the introduction of foreign animal diseases from other countries.
Government and private industry, along with pork producers, would have a role in implementation of the biosecurity system as proposed by the NPPC producer delegates. Among other things, the plan would call for:
- an appropriate level of inspection of passengers at U.S. points of entry;
- the capability to conduct appropriate animal health related surveillance programs;
- enhanced involvement in the development of import policies for live animals, pork and
- pork products;
- development of state emergency plans to ensure a swift, aggressive response.
The NPPC delegates agreed that much has been learned in observing the recent foreign animal disease outbreaks in the Netherlands and Taiwan. Hog Cholera is present in the Caribbean and represents a real threat to the U.S. pork industry. Delegates said the current level of U.S. preparedness must be enhanced at the earliest possible date in order to do everything possible to avoid the importation of a foreign animal disease into the United States that could potentially devastate the U.S. pork industry.
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