Science, Politics, Beliefs, and Animal and Food System Policy
Local Policy-Making for Animal Health and Food Systems: Interactions with National and Global Policies
St. Paul, Minnesota, October 19-21, 2009
Policy problem
Negotiating with the federal government on management of bovine tuberculosis (TB) within a state. Bovine TB is a serious disease with animal health, public health, and international trade consequences. The cooperative Federal-State industry effort to eradicate bovine TB from cattle in the United States has made significant progress. Since the program’s inception in 1917, the disease prevalence rate in cattle herds dropped from 5 percent to less than 0.001 percent. Many consider this one of the great animal and public health achievements in the United States. However, our ultimate goal of eradication remains elusive as animal health officials continue to detect TB sporadically in livestock herds. Numerous challenges hinder our efforts to eradicate the disease:
Preparation before the program
The core element for the program is a report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA): Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Veterinary Services: “A New Approach for Managing Bovine Tuberculosis: Veterinary Services' Proposed Action Plant”. Several additional elements are important for your review
1.Be familiar with and prepared to discuss the USDA:APHIS report mentioned above.
2.Review various perspectives on TB from your local area (status and significance) including the public health implications, the national significance, trade issues and defining TB status..
4.Be familiar with and prepared to discuss the audio casts from the National Academies Press on "Communicating Science". One of the competencies from this program is to understand how to communicate complex knowledge so that it will be understood by diverse audiences.