Senators slam voluntary bird flu testing

[Mingus]

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/breaking_news/15092399.htm

Senators slam voluntary bird flu testing
LIBBY QUAID
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Senators on Friday criticized the Agriculture Department's planning for deadly bird flu, saying the voluntary nature of its testing program threatens the U.S. poultry industry.

At issue is a federal audit that found the government lacks a comprehensive plan for testing and monitoring bird flu in commercial poultry. The department says it will have a plan in place by October.

"It is surprising that USDA does not have a program that monitors and collects data on what testing is taking place," the senators wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.

"We are deeply concerned that the agency has waited until this year to begin to develop a comprehensive surveillance plan for avian influenza, which will not be complete until October," wrote the group, which includes Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

The group includes four other Democrats and one Republican.

A department spokesman said Friday that officials are working to fix the problems raised by auditors and that auditors approve of those efforts.

"This has been a key priority for the department," spokesman Ed Loyd said. "This is not something that's just theoretical to the department. We have experience in dealing with previous high-path outbreaks."
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[Mellie]

Re: Senators slam voluntary bird flu testing

Followup post from Snowy Owl:

#2 Yesterday, 08:06 AM
Snowy Owl Post
http://www.examiner.com/a-186814~Senators_Slam_Voluntary_Bird_Flu_Testing.html

Senators Slam Voluntary Bird Flu Testing

WASHINGTON - Senators on Friday criticized the Agriculture Department's planning for deadly bird flu, saying the voluntary nature of its testing program threatens the U.S. poultry industry.

At issue is a federal audit that found the government lacks a comprehensive plan for testing and monitoring bird flu in commercial poultry. The department says it will have a plan in place by October.

"It is surprising that USDA does not have a program that monitors and collects data on what testing is taking place," the senators wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.

"We are deeply concerned that the agency has waited until this year to begin to develop a comprehensive surveillance plan for avian influenza, which will not be complete until October," wrote the group, which includes Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

The group includes four other Democrats - Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada, Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer of New York - and one Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa.
The senators said the department is relying too heavily on states and that many states don't have enough personnel to help coordinate.

"Consequently, some states are adequately prepared, while others are not prepared and do not even have avian influenza response plans," the senators wrote.

A department spokesman said Friday that officials are working to fix the problems raised in the audit, done by the department' inspector general, and that auditors approve of those efforts.

"This has been a key priority for the department," spokesman Ed Loyd said. "This is not something that's just theoretical to the department. We have experience in dealing with previous high-path outbreaks."

Bird flu is common in U.S. poultry flocks, but the virulent Asian strain that has killed at least 133 people has not been found in this country. Most of the human cases have been linked to infected birds, but scientists worry the virus could mutate, become highly contagious and then easily spread among people.

The audit happened before the department received $91 million from Congress to help prepare for bird flu, Loyd said. The testing plan is separate from a multi-agency response plan released in March, he said.
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[Niko]

Re: Senators slam voluntary bird flu testing

Didn't see this article posted - if a dupe, please delete.

MSNBC.com
Report: USDA lacks plan for bird flu testing
Current screening methods unable to accurately monitor virus' spread
The Associated Press

Updated: 7:40 p.m. ET June 20, 2006

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration lacks a comprehensive plan for testing and monitoring bird flu in commercial poultry, a federal audit says.

The industry is testing every flock for bird flu, but the tests are voluntary and there is no method for reporting findings to the federal government, the Agriculture Department?s inspector general said Tuesday.

As a result, the department does not know the extent of surveillance being done in each state and is not gathering consistent data that would indicate whether the deadly Asian strain of bird flu is present, and if so, how widespread it is, according to the audit.

In response to the criticism, the department said it was developing a strategy for assembling such a plan, promising to design a national bird flu testing system by Oct. 31.

The inspector general?s recommendations ?have only furthered our plans to prepare and respond to any avian influenza outbreak,? said department spokeswoman Karen Eggert.

Department officials told the inspector general they only recently got the funding necessary for such a plan. The inspector general agreed with department plans for fixing the problems identified in the report, Eggert noted.

USDA relying too heavily on states?
Critics worry that the department is relying too heavily on states for surveillance. The report noted there are disparities in how states do the testing.

?The federal government continues to push the responsibility of finding and responding to a possible outbreak of avian influenza on states,? said Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, the Senate Agriculture Committee?s senior Democrat.

?As a result, USDA does not have a comprehensive national plan for surveillance and monitoring of poultry flocks and states lack adequate federal resources to respond to potential avian influenza outbreaks,? Harkin said.

Bird flu is commonly found in U.S. poultry, but the deadly Asian strain that has killed at least 128 people has not been found in this country. So far, most human cases have been linked to infected birds, but scientists fear the virus will mutate into a highly contagious form that spreads easily among people.

The inspector general identified disparities in how states tests for bird flu; for example, one state fully tests chickens, turkeys and eggs, while another tests only flocks covered by a federal-state-industry program for controlling diseases.

The disparities worry foreign trading partners, the report said. Other countries don?t understand why the U.S. can?t provide the number of tests by state, advise whether all types of commercial poultry are tested or say whether backyard flocks are being tested, the report said.

The U.S. is the world?s biggest producer and exporter of poultry meat.

The department created a committee to put together a comprehensive surveillance and monitoring plan, but the committee did not have a leader for most of 2005, the report said. A newly hired staff veterinarian has now been assigned to chair the committee.

The report also raised concerns with how the Agriculture Department tracks potential instances of bird flu. Employees didn?t complete investigations within a week, as the department requires. The inspector general found 46 unresolved investigations of potential bird flu, 43 of which were not completed for more than six months.

The department closed the cases after investigators asked about them, saying the work had been finished but not recorded.

Officials still don?t know how much poultry in the U.S. already is being tested or monitored, the report said.

And while testing has been done by states and live bird markets, the findings haven?t been analyzed to draw conclusions about flu in U.S. bird populations or detect changes in types of flu or how widespread it is, the report said.

?Thus, it is difficult or impossible to reach valid conclusions based on the data,? the report said.

? 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13444205/
? 2006 MSNBC.com