The Animal Disease Risk Assessment, Prevention, and Control Act of 2001 Explained
We have our first law here that’s notable enough to actually get a name past 107–x or whatever the long title is! This particular act was made in an attempt to stop outbreaks of the fatal “Mad Cow Disease”. As well as other more minor cow related sicknesses. Let’s jump right in.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Animal Disease Risk Assessment,
Prevention, and Control Act of 2001''.
Just giving it the name.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
Much of this act is just talking about the facts about these diseases.
(1) it is in the interest of the United States to maintain
healthy livestock herds;
Really, who would've guessed?
(2) managing the risks of foot-and-mouth disease, bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, and related diseases in the United
States may require billions of dollars for remedial activities
by consumers, producers, and distributors of livestock and
animal and blood products;
Foot-and-mouth disease is a less dangerous but more infectious cow disease like mad cow disease. Which in this document is referred to by its formal name. “Bovine spongiform encephalopathy”. Which for the sake of brevity I will just call BSE. Anyway, they’re point here is that managing this shit is expensive once it gets into your cows.
(3) the potential introduction of those diseases into the
United States would cause devastating financial losses to--
(A) the agriculture industry and other economic
sectors; and
(B) United States trade in the affected animals and
animal products;
Again, managing these diseases is expensive. Cows are expensive[1].
(4) foot-and-mouth disease is a severe and highly contagious
viral infection affecting cattle, deer, goats, sheep, swine, and
other animals;
Foot-and-mouth disease exists in more than cows, but cows and pigs are the largest targets due to farming.
(5) the most effective means of eradicating foot-and-mouth
disease is by the slaughter of affected animals;
Pukes violently.
(6) while foot-and-mouth disease was eradicated in the
United States in 1929, the virus could be reintroduced by--
(A) a single infected animal, an animal product, or
a person carrying the virus;
(B) an act of terrorism;[2] or
(C) other means;
Foot-and-mouth disease is no longer in the US. But it could come back.
(8) foot-and-mouth disease is endemic to more than \2/3\ of
the world and is considered to be widespread in parts of Africa,
Asia, Europe, and South America;
Foot-and-mouth disease is in quite a few places in the green parts of not-America
(9) foot-and-mouth disease occurs in over 7 different
serotypes[3] and 60 subtypes;
There’s a lot of types of foot-and-mouth disease.
(10) as foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks have occurred, the
United States has banned the importation of live ruminants and
swine and many animal products from countries affected by foot-
and-mouth disease;
The US has cut off cow and pig shipping with a lot of foot-and-mouth disease prone places.
(11) recently, the United States has implemented bans in response to outbreaks in Argentina, the European Union, and Taiwan;
Here are some specific places where those bans have taken place.
(12) although United States exclusion programs have been successful at keeping foot-and-mouth disease out of the United States since 1929, recent outbreaks in Argentina, the European Union, and Taiwan are placing an unprecedented strain on our animal health system;
It’s expensive to deal with outbreaks of the disease in other places.
(13) bovine spongiform encephalopathy is a transmissible, neuro-degenerative disease found in cattle;
BSE is what I’ve already described it is.
(14) in cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the
active agent is found primarily in the brain and spinal cord and
has not been found in commonly consumed beef products;
BSE isn’t usually spread through food poisoning.
(15) bovine spongiform encephalopathy is thought to have an
incubation period of several years but is ultimately fatal to
cattle within weeks of onset of the active disease;
BSE is slow acting but eventually fatal.
(16) bovine spongiform encephalopathy was first widely found
in 1986 in cattle in the United Kingdom;
Self-explanatory.
(17) bovine spongiform encephalopathy-carrying cattle have
been found in cattle in Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland;
BSE’s been found all over Europe.
(18) cattle infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy
originating from the United Kingdom have been found and
intercepted in Canada;
Some almost made it into Canada’s livestock supply.
(19) since 1989, the Secretary of Agriculture has prohibited
the importation of live grazing animals from countries where
bovine spongiform encephalopathy has been found in cattle;
You can’t import cows from countries where BSE is found.
(20) other products derived from grazing animals, such as
blood meal, bonemeal, fat, fetal bovine serum, glands, meat-and-
bone meal, and offal, are prohibited from entry, except under
special conditions or under permits issued by the Secretary of
Agriculture for scientific or research purposes;
Other stuff from cows that isn’t cow can’t be imported from those countries either unless it’s for science.
(21) on December 12, 1997, the Secretary of Agriculture
extended those restrictions to include all countries in Europe
because of concerns about widespread risk factors and inadequate
surveillance for bovine spongiform encephalopathy;
(22) on December 7, 2000, the Secretary of Agriculture
prohibited all imports of rendered animal protein products from
Europe;
Because of these diseases importing many animal products from Europe is hard.
(23) Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease is a human spongiform
encephalopathy;
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (which I will now just call CJ) is a human disease not unlike BSE.
(24) on March 20, 1996, the Spongiform Encephalopathy
Advisory Committee of the United Kingdom announced the
identification of 10 cases of a new variant of Creutzfeldt-Jacob
disease;
Recently[4] the UK found a new kind of CJ.
(25) all 10 patients developed onsets of the disease in 1994
or 1995;
Self-explanatory.
(26) scientific experts (including scientists at the
Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human
Services, and the World Health Organization) are studying the
possible link (including potential routes of transmission)
between bovine spongiform encephalopathy and variant
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease;
Scientists are looking at the link between BSE and CJ.
(27) from October 1996 to December 2000, 87 cases of variant
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease have been reported in the United
Kingdom, 3 cases in France, and 1 case in Ireland; and
(28) to reduce the risk of human spongiform encephalopathies
in the United States, the Commissioner of Food and Drugs has--
(A) banned individuals who lived in Great Britain
for at least 180 days since 1980 from donating blood in
the United States; and
(B) established regulations that prohibit the
feeding of most animal-derived proteins to grazing
animals.
This variant of CJ has had many cases inn Europe. To prevent it from coming into America you can’t donate blood in the US if you’ve lived in the UK in the past 20 years and there are various regulations on feeding animal products to grazing livestock.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide the people of
the United States and Congress with information concerning--
(1) actions by Federal agencies to prevent foot-and-mouth
disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and related diseases;
(2) the sufficiency of legislative authority to prevent or
control foot-and-mouth disease, bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, and related diseases in the United States;
(3) the economic impacts associated with the potential
introduction of foot-and-mouth disease, bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, and related diseases into the United States; and
(4) the risks to public health from possible links between
bovine spongiform encephalopathy and other spongiform
encephalopathies to human illnesses.
This law to to inform and protect people about and from these diseases.
SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.
(a) Preliminary Report.--
(1) In <<NOTE: Deadline.>> general.--Not later than 30 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Agriculture shall submit to the committees and subcommittees
described in paragraph (2) a preliminary report concerning--
(A) coordinated interagency activities to assess,
prevent, and control the spread of foot-and-mouth
disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the
United States;
(B) sources of information from the Federal
Government available to the public on foot-and-mouth
disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy; and
(C) any immediate needs for additional legislative
authority, appropriations, or product bans to prevent
the introduction of foot-and-mouth disease or bovine
spongiform encephalopathy into the United States.
(2) Submission of report to congress.--The Secretary shall
submit the preliminary report to--
(A) the Committee on Agriculture of the House of
Representatives;
(B) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and
Forestry of the Senate;(C) the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural
Development, and Related Agencies of the Committee on
Appropriations of the Senate; and
(D) the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural
Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related
Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of the House
of Representatives.
Within a month after this law is passed the secretary of agriculture needs to report a bunch of things about these diseases to the agriculture committees in Congress.
(b) Final Report.--
(1) In <<NOTE: Deadline.>> general.--Not later than 180 days
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Agriculture shall submit to the committees and subcommittees
described in subsection (a)(2) a final report that--
(A) discusses the economic impacts associated with
the potential introduction of foot-and-mouth disease,
bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and related diseases
into the United States;
(B) discusses the potential risks to public and
animal health from foot-and-mouth disease, bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, and related diseases; and
(C) provides recommendations to protect the health
of animal herds and citizens of the United States from
those risks including, if necessary, recommendations for
additional legislation, appropriations, or product bans.
(2) Contents.--The report shall contain--
(A) an assessment of the risks to the public
presented by the potential presence of foot-and-mouth
disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and related
diseases in domestic and imported livestock, livestock
and animal products, wildlife, and blood products;
(B) recommendations to reduce and manage the risks
of foot-and-mouth disease, bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, and related diseases;
(C) any plans of the Secretary to identify, prevent,
and control foot-and-mouth disease, bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, and related diseases in domestic and
imported livestock, livestock products, wildlife, and
blood products;
(D) a description of the incidence and prevalence of
foot-and-mouth disease, bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, and
related diseases in other countries;
(E) a description and an analysis of the
effectiveness of the measures taken to assess, prevent,
and control the risks of foot-and-mouth disease, bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob
disease, and related diseases in other countries;
(F) a description and an analysis of the
effectiveness of the measures that the public, private,
and nonprofit sectors have taken to assess, prevent, and
control the risk of foot-and-mouth disease, bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, and related diseases in the
United States, including controls of ports of entry and
other conveyances;
(G) a description of the measures taken to prevent
and control the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy
and variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease transmission
through blood collection and transfusion;(H) a description of any measures (including any
planning or managerial initiatives such as interagency,
intergovernmental, international, and public-private
sector partnerships) that any Federal agency plans to
initiate or continue to assess, prevent, and control the
spread of foot-and-mouth disease, bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, and
related diseases in the United States and other
countries;
(I) plans by Federal agencies (including the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention)--
(i) to monitor the incidence and prevalence of
the transmission of foot-and-mouth disease, bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, variant Creutzfeldt-
Jacob disease, and related diseases in the United
States; and
(ii) to assess the effectiveness of efforts to
prevent and control the spread of foot-and-mouth
disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, variant
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, and related diseases in
the United States;
(J) plans by Federal agencies (including the
Agricultural Research Service, the Cooperative State
Research, Education, and Extension Service, and the
National Institutes of Health) to carry out, in
partnership with the private sector--
(i) research programs into the causes and
mechanism of transmission of foot-and-mouth
disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy; and
(ii) diagnostic tools and preventive and
therapeutic agents for foot-and-mouth disease,
bovine spongiform encephalopathy, variant
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, and related diseases;
(K) plans for providing appropriate compensation for
affected animals in the event of the introduction of
foot-and-mouth disease, bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, or related diseases into the United
States; and
(L) recommendations to Congress for legislation that
will improve efforts to assess, prevent, or control the
transmission of foot-and-mouth disease, bovine
spongiform encephalopathy, variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob
disease, and related diseases in the United States and
in other countries.
Within the six months after this law is passed the secretary of agriculture needs to submit a very in-depth report to the same committees as last time. Covering many specific risks of these diseases and ways to overcome them. I’m not going to point out every single thing that the secretary needs to report and pick it apart here. It’s there, you can read it if you want.
(c) Consultation.--
(1) Preliminary report.--In preparing the preliminary report
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall consult with--
(A) the Secretary of the Treasury;
(B) the Secretary of Commerce;
(C) the Secretary of State;
(D) the Secretary of Health and Human Services;
(E) the Secretary of Defense;
(F) the United States Trade Representative;
(G) the Director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency; and
(H) representatives of other appropriate Federal
agencies;
(2) Final report.--In preparing the final report under
subsection (b), the Secretary shall consult with--
(A) the individuals listed in paragraph (1);
(B) private and nonprofit sector experts in
infectious disease, research, prevention, and control;
(C) international, State, and local governmental
animal health officials;
(D) private, nonprofit, and public sector livestock
experts;
(E) representatives of blood collection and
distribution entities; and
(F) representatives of consumer and patient
organizations and other interested members of the
public.
The secretary of Agriculture needs to consult with a bunch of other people while writing the reports.
This was the first large act[5] that I’ve done this style with. And I thought it was a lot of fun. Obviously in between these long stretches of writing about complex laws that tackle various topics there will be a lot of laws that just name a post office that I’m still going to “explain”. But I don’t mind it. It can be nice to break up the large projects with small regular updates. And maybe one day I can actually cover every Congressional public law passed since 2001 under the Bush, Obama and whoever the hell wins this year’s election’s administrations. Next up we have some more minor laws before eventually coming across the next big law establishing the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor. Until then, goodbye!
Approved May 24, 2001.
Footnotes
[1] But so tasty.
[2] lol. I’m now imagining Al-Qaeda or ISIS air-dropping infected cows into targeted areas.
[3] Word of the day. I had to look it up, apparently it means a group of bacteria species.
[4] As of the time this law was written. Not really that recently from 2016.
[5] Which I’m defining as any law with a short title.
-Arthur Himmel MMXVI
