▶ 0:23:50You guys ready? Get in. Okay. Good morning everybody. The meeting will come to order. Welcome and thank you for joining today's hearing entitled Safeguarding US Agriculture, the role of the animal of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network. After brief opening remarks, members will receive testimony from our witnesses today and then the hearing will be open to questions.
▶ 0:24:14In consultation with the ranking member and pursuant to rule 11E, I want to make members of the subcommittee aware that other members of the full committee may be joining us today. I'm excited to chair this hearing of the House Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry where we will focus on the important work of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network or N. As a fifth generation Kansas farm kid, I grew up writing pens and doctoring sick cattle at my family's preconditioning feed lot.
▶ 0:24:42And I intimately understand and appreciate the vital role the animal health plays in all of livestock and our poultry operations. The National Animal Health Laboratory Network is a critical piece of our ability to respond to and mitigate foreign animal diseases.
▶ 0:24:57Originally comprised of 12 laboratories when it was created in 2002, the null network has grown to include over 60 state and university laboratories, including the K State University Veterary Diagnostics Laboratory in Manhattan, Kansas, my district, and alma mater.
▶ 0:25:13These labs are strategically placed across the United States to support animal agriculture by developing and increasing the capabilities and capacities to support early detection, rapid response, and appropriate recovery from high consequence animal diseases. Put simply, they are the first line of our defense. These labs do not operate in a vacuum. The null network is successful because of partnerships between federal, state, and university associated animal health laboratories and experts.
▶ 0:25:43This partnership is critical to response efforts when foreign animal diseases are detected such as highly pathogenic aven influenza, new world screwworm, African swine fever, and unfortunately so many more. Today you will hear from a panel of experts who will work at N's who all work at N's laboratories. These experts will be able to share pertinent information about the critical work they do.
▶ 0:26:07Whether it be tracking the new world's grew roomm outbreak in Mexico, identifying the move of high path entry dairy into dairy cattle in Texas, working with the national bio and aggro defense facility in Kansas or crucial swine testing in Iowa. This hearing could not come at a better time to highlight the work of the null laboratories and talk about the need for additional resources.
▶ 0:26:31As of two weeks ago, funding for the non as well as funding for the national animal disease preparedness and response program and national animal vaccine and veterinary countermeasures bank was substantially increased in the one big beautiful bill.
▶ 0:26:47The one big beautiful bill included $233 million per year for the three-legged stool with $10 million per year directed towards the non-laboratories which is on the top which is on top of existing discretionary federal spending. This funding will increase diagnostic capabilities, improve research, assist in dis disease surveillance, and strengthen our overall capacity as a nation to prevent, detect, and mitigate foreign animal diseases.
▶ 0:27:15I'm proud of the work of this committee did to shore up our animal health resources and protect the herds and flocks that bring so much value to our producers and national security. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about the work they do day in and day out in their roles with the National Animal Health Laboratory Network. I'm excited to hear about how the increased funding will help their operation of these laboratories, which foreign animal diseases they see as the most consequential, and how we as Congress can do can be good partners to them.
▶ 0:27:46Again, thank you all for being here today. With that, I'd now like to welcome the distinguished ranking member, uh, my friend and the gentleman from California, Mr. Costas, for any open remarks he would like to give.
▶ 0:27:57Thank you very much, uh, Chairman Finstra and for members of the subcommittee. It's uh indeed I think a very important subcommittee hearing that we're holding here this morning uh because high path uh aven flu has infected uh uh many parts of our country uh on a regional basis and we've had different efforts with varying degrees of success to to deal with this.
▶ 0:28:22But certainly uh we are not unaccustomed to having uh infectious diseases impacting our our uh livestock uh and poultry industries across the country and how we handle those and how we respond is critical and therefore this hearing I think is totally appropriate and and important. Um I want to thank the chairman not only for holding this hearing for that reason but thank our witnesses.
▶ 0:28:46Uh the witnesses that we have here um have over 20 years of experience uh with uh uh grown to include over 60 labs that make up our detection system for animal disease control. As I always like to say, food is a national security issue. Uh it is and uh we should address it in that fashion.
▶ 0:29:08And the laboratory network plays key roles in ensuring we have a safe and secure food supply chain for all Americans at their dinner table every evening. This laboratory network is part of that safety response. It's a foundation that allows us to respond rapidly to animal disease outbreaks simultaneously while keeping our food supply chain safe.
▶ 0:29:30And that's a challenge um as high path has uh gone over recent uh uh recently in different parts of our country in California uh where we have 20% of America's milk production uh we've had over 70% infection in our dairy herds uh which is is critical mass and of course we've got a significant poultry industry as well and trying to handle the two uh over the last 18 months months we've
▶ 0:30:00had our hands full but we have a extra ex extra effort uh that is done by our efforts with our state uh veterinarian Dr. Jones who I will introduce in a moment. The only way though that we can properly trace and avoid further spread or spillover infection, I think, is if we're able to respond quickly. And that's why I think this hearing is so important and accurately to identify and then use the information to allocate appropriate resources to address the problem.
▶ 0:30:31And uh NAHLN is a great example uh of which highlights the importance of how federal and state partnerships work together. And I think we have had a good example in California of that partnership working. Uh we have our main level one lab at the University of California Davis which has played a critical role in coordinating with laboratory um network by providing resources throughout California and the nation in combating high path aven flu.
▶ 0:30:58And this is just one example that demonstrates the important of the laboratory network and the role it plays in greater effort of preventing animal disease that are being spread throughout the United States. And these labs talk to each other on a national basis which is essential. Uh when we have multiple state outbreaks of animal disease such as the high path avvenian influenza, it's absolutely essential that we have centralized operations coordinated across our states and we're going to hear about that this morning.
▶ 0:31:25The role that uh NHL central office plays in combating disease response came into spotlight earlier uh this year in February. Um, I was disappointed to hear with the Doge efforts that the administration fired a quarter of the employees at the central coordinating office. This has occurred in the middle of a prolonged high path aven influenza outbreak. I can't think of a worse time to decide to cut these positions when coordinating disease response.
▶ 0:31:56Think about it. Uh, we've seen uninformed, short-sighted decisions such as this one made uh, and it's not helpful. And I think we've already seen the impacts of those decisions. I'm glad to hear the chairman talk about uh the one big I don't know that we agree that it was beautiful, but that there's additional funding that uh may allow us to fill the gaps uh from the cuts that were made in February because I think that's important and I think we want to get the opinion of our experts, our witnesses
▶ 0:32:26to to give opine on that. Let me close by saying that we're supportive of these programs to combat animal disease. It's critical that we work together to continue to support systems such as the laboratory network. I really believe that's critical along with corresponding research that allows us to create better diagnostic tools and preventive measures which is utilizing the best available science possible.
▶ 0:32:54Uh a lot of us have a backgrounds and I look forward to hearing from our expert witnesses. But uh as a part of um uh Costa Brothers Dairy, uh I had a lot of u experience working with our our uh veterinarian uh uh Doc Johnson, uh big animal vet, uh and he kept our herds in in good shape over the years.
▶ 0:33:18Sometimes I'd when my dog had a little problem and I'd bring it to him and he says, "I don't do small animals." And then he'd say, "Ah, bring it over here. I'll look at it." So anyway, uh but uh our vets uh are are so valuable. And so by way of mentioning that, let me introduce a individual that's going to testify. I have another hearing I have to go to. So I want to introduce our witness uh who I noted a moment ago. Uh Dr. Dr. Annette Jones uh is a veterinarian herself.
▶ 0:33:48She is the state veterinarian and director of animal health and food safety services for the state of California. Uh the u number one agricultural state of the nation. She has held the director since 2004. In that capacity, she oversees an annual budget of $45.5 million. I believe 222 employees work with her engaged in programs from animal health, milk and dairy food safety, meat and poultry inspection, livestock identification.
▶ 0:34:16She also works closely with the California animal health and food safety laboratory system. In addition to her role as director, she was appointed to the California State Veterinarian in 2010. She is a graduate of UC Davis, very proud of that with a degree in economics and she received her DVM from UC Davis School of Veterary Medicine. She is a total complete package and wellresected wellrespected uh among animal science industry in California and around the country. And Dr.
▶ 0:34:47Jones, we're glad you could make it here to talk about your vast experience. And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to provide that introduction of Dr. Jones to the committee subcommittee. Thank you.
▶ 0:34:58Thanks, ranking member for your opening comments and uh for doing the introduction of one of our four panelists. We'll now introduce um our other three panelists. And I want everyone to understand that in talking to them ahead of time, every one of them had flight issues coming in. I don't think a single person um one of our witnesses got in before midnight. Um some people made it in their luggage did not.
▶ 0:35:20Um, but appreciate you all being here uh th this morning and uh and more than that your commitment to uh to to animals um and keeping our our
▶ 0:35:29Thanks for pointing that out, Mr. Chairman. Some of us spent two hours on the tarmac last yesterday afternoon waiting to get off the plane. So, I'm sympathy sympotic to all of you. Thank
▶ 0:35:40Yeah, we appreciate you being here today. Um I'll I'll introduce um the the next witness um which will be Dr. Dr. Jamie um Ritalik, the director of Kansas Veterary Diagnostics Laboratory at Kansas State University. Dr. Ritik's primary responsibility is director of Kansas's only veterinary diagnostic laboratory.
▶ 0:36:01Before becoming director, she served as a diagnostic pathologist for KVDL, which involves biopsy and necropsy services from referring veterinarians a KSVU or the KS the KState veterinary center. She also oversees daily operations and provides guidance in the development of new tests, teaches in teaches a course at veterinary biology and provides researchers with pathology support for collaborative studies. Dr.
▶ 0:36:28Ritoch is a graduate of both Kansas State University and the University of Nebraska. From one Kansas to another, thank you for being here this morning. Um, after we hear from Dr. Relech, we'll hear from Dr. Terry Hensley who is the assistant agency director for diagnostic services at the Texas&M veterinary medical diagnostic laboratory a state agency in the Texas&M University system Dr. Dr.
▶ 0:36:52Hensley oversees veterinary services, intra agency collaborations, case coordination, and consultations with clients. He also serves as a liaison between the TVMDL and multiple regional, state, and federal partner organizations to oversee the AY's regulatory testing components. Dr. Dr. Hensley is a graduate of Texas&M University, including his DVM and completed his post-doate at the University of Georgia.
▶ 0:37:22And uh next introduce our our final witness. Um I'm going to turn it over to the gentleman from Iowa, Representative Finstra, to introduce the next witness.
▶ 0:37:31Thank you, Chairman Mann. It's an honor to introduce Dr. Roger Maine, a nationally recognized leader in animal health diagnostics and a fellow proud Ian. Dr. serves as a professor and director of the Iowa State University Veterinarian Diagnostic Laboratory, which serves as one of the cornerstones of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network. Under Dr.
▶ 0:37:53Maine's leadership, ISU's lab processes over 125,000 diagnostic cases and runs more than 1.7 million tests annually, directly supporting the farmers, veterinarians, and industries that power Iowa and the country's agricultural community. He brings decades of experience in swine medicine and clinical research and holds both the DVM from Iowa State and a PhD from Kansas State.
▶ 0:38:19Iowa State continues to lead the nation in agricultural science and Dr. Maine's work is vital to safeguarding animal health, food security, national security, and the future of American agriculture. Thank you for joining us today, Dr. Maine. We look forward to hearing your testimony. Uh, thank you, Mr. Fincher, and thank you to all of our witnesses again for joining us today. We will now proceed to your testimony. You will each have five minutes.
▶ 0:38:47The timer in front of you will countd down to zero, at which point your time has expired. Dr. Relech, please begin when you are ready.
▶ 0:38:56Good morning, Chairman Mann, Ranking Member Costa, and members of the subcommittee. It is an honor to be in front of you today to talk about the importance of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network or NOLM and its unique relationships among state and federal laboratories, state veterinarians, and state departments of agriculture. We will discuss some of the key aspects that make Nol a vital federal network. Thank you for this invitation.
▶ 0:39:22I had the privilege to be the director of the Kansas Veterary Diagnostic Laboratory and a professor at Kansas State University. The Kansas Veterary Diagnostic Laboratory or KBDL is the primary and only accredited laboratory in the state of Kansas located at Kansas State University, a land grant university.
▶ 0:39:42The location at a land grant university allows for a specialized academic faculty to train future generations and work with clients along with federal partners to serve to serve a diverse range of clients and a broad range of diseases. KVDL has approximately 120 staff. About 25 of those are faculty with various specialties and training. We see over 213 species. We have over 213 species in our database. Perform 600 different tests and approximately 600,000 tests annually.
▶ 0:40:12Although a diverse species case load, the most common is cattle. KVDL is a critical pillar to support the 12.9 billion Kansas livestock industry. An important part of protection of Canada's livestock industry and thus the United States is the relationships and coordination provided by the null.
▶ 0:40:29Nol is a vital resource and cultry or communication system to protect United States animal agriculture pro by providing an early warning system for economically important outbreaks and foreign animal diseases along with new threats such as the new world screwworm which null labs are currently watching for. As stated, the null network includes 64 laboratories across the United States, which includes KVDL, a level one laboratory in the network.
▶ 0:40:54In addition, there are several federal or parent laboratories that are part of this network, which include the National Veterary Service Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab Laboratory, Fattle, currently split between Plum Island, New York, and the National Biogrode Defense System uh facility in uh Manhattan, Kansas. There is also a currently a surve surveillance laboratory in Puerto Rico for African swine fever.
▶ 0:41:21The Nolan has built a strong harmonious relationship between federal, state, and university veterary diagnostic laboratories with over 20 years of experience and in protecting animal agriculture in the United States through surveillance and disease testing. In addition to providing communication, coordination, and funding, NOL also provides standardized testing procedures and laboratory accuracy testing known as proficiency testing.
▶ 0:41:43Standardized protocols and proficiency testing provide consistent, trustworthy and high capacity testing among all 64 non laboratories in critical disease events. Fattle from the inbath facility has produced and distributed 800 proficiency test panels for several high impact diseases including African swine fever, classical swine fever, footmouth disease, cynica valley virus to non labs nationwide including my lab KBDL.
▶ 0:42:14Non-coordination of the state laboratories, funding to support the laboratories, weekly communication calls, standard protocols, and proficiency testing have resulted in a network with redundancy to support each other. KVDL is currently performing overflow testing for California and Colorado. This coordination and overflow testing when a state laboratory is overwhelmed is directed by the null.
▶ 0:42:37The federal funding appropriated to dome that is transferred to state laboratories in the network and for those laboratories is often used to support equipment purchases, service contracts, software and informationational technology upgrades, travel for training, outbreak exercises which are important in preparation for us and salary support for our staff.
▶ 0:43:00The is a is a makes a huge impact on the BDL operations and is very appreciated to help support our laboratory. In summary, null with over 20 years of experience, standardized and controlled testing and coordination of 64 laboratories provides high testing capacity and numbers, redundancy and testing to control outbreaks and surveillance for foreign animal disease on US soil.
▶ 0:43:29In my opinion, NOL is the best example of a federal organization harmoniously coordinating disease response among state laboratories and state departments of agriculture. When funds are appropriate to NOL, federal dollars are supporting state laboratories, protecting the US economy and food supply, preventing zunosis, those diseases transferred from animals to humans, maintaining exports and trade channels, and addressing other critical interests. Thank you for allowing me to discuss the importance of Mel today.
▶ 0:43:58Thank you uh Dr. Relech. Next up, Dr. Hensley, please begin when you are
▶ 0:44:06Good morning, Chairman Mann, ranking member Costa, and members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. I'm Terry Hensley, assistant agency director of the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, or TVMDL. I have the privilege of serving at one of our nation's busiest veterary diagnostic laboratories, running almost a million tests annually.
▶ 0:44:30Most of our case load comes from within Texas, but we also receive samples from all 50 states and internationally. Animal diseases don't respect geographic boundaries. Therefore, it's imperative that our veterary diagnostic laboratories in all 50 states have the same capabilities to detect diseases quickly and accurately to limit their spread and mitigate the impact on animal agriculture.
▶ 0:44:55The Naland has built a responsive, effective partnership of state and federal laboratories that leverages resources and talent across the nation. The Nalan program office works tirelessly to strengthen relationships with every member laboratory so we can respond as a network to the everinccreasing disease incursions threatening our nation's animal agriculture industries.
▶ 0:45:20It's crucial that the Nan be fortified and enabled to provide the critical diagnostic testing needed during animal disease outbreaks. Ensuring all has sufficient funding will aid in addressing our nation's need for a safe, stable, and nutritious food supply. We want to thank Congress for the increased funding for Naland and the reconciliation bill and for Congressman Ronnie Jackson for helping lead those efforts.
▶ 0:45:47TVMDL was one of the original Nalin core laboratories. Texas has features that increase its risk for the introduction of animal disease threats, including a 1,248 mile long border with Mexico and multiple international land, sea, and airports. Texas imports 1 million cattle annually from Mexico and 2 and a half million cattle from other US states.
▶ 0:46:13In addition to livestock, Texas has an abundance of feral, wild, and farmed wildlife species. three major migratory flyways across the state. The interface between domestic and wildlife species poses a tremendous challenge for disease surveillance, detection, and TVMDL's work protects Texas 24 billion dollar animal agriculture industries while enhancing the response, preparedness of the nan.
▶ 0:46:43An example of synergy occurred in March of 2024 when many dairies in the Texas panhandle reported a mysterious illness in lactating cows. The cows showed various signs of illness, but most striking was the dramatic decrease in milk production. Dairy veterinarians sent samples to TVMDL as well as our fellow Nalin labs at Cornell University and Iowa State University.
▶ 0:47:09For several weeks, our laboratories ran every test that might provide an explanation, but there were no definitive answers. When dairies reported large numbers of dead birds and cats, the possibility of a connection between highly pathogenic aven influenza and sick cattle was suggested. The Nan laboratories at Texas&M, Cornell, and Iowa State collaborated using shared samples from sick cows and demonstrated the presence of H5N1 virus in mamry tissue and milk.
▶ 0:47:39These results were reported to the nan and confirmed by the national veterary services laboratories. On Monday, March 25th, 2024, USDA made the unprecedented announcement of an outbreak of highly pathogenic aven influenza and US dairy cattle. Texas may soon be ground zero for another incursion if the deadly new world screwworm fly invades our state from Mexico.
▶ 0:48:07While we hope this pest can be contained south of the border, hope, as they say, is not a strategy. The USDA's National Animal Health Laboratory Network is however one vital strategy serving as a cornerstone of the United States efforts to protect livestock and ensure the health and productivity of the animal agriculture sector. Thank you for your attention.
▶ 0:48:34Thank you for your uh testimony, Dr. Hensley. Next up, Dr. Maine. Please begin when you are ready.
▶ 0:48:40Sure. Good morning. My name is Roger Maine. I have the honor of serving as a professor and the director of the Iowa State Veterary Diagnostic Lab located in Ames, Iowa. The Iowa State Veterary Diagnostic Lab is the only fullervice and fully accredited veterary diagnostic lab in our state and serves as the official veterary diagnostic lab for the state of Iowa. Our team at the ISUBDL proudly serves as an active contributor to the USDA's National Animal Health Lab Network.
▶ 0:49:06The null delivers a national standard of best-in-class veterinary diagnostic technologies, testing capabilities, and coordination of information among federal, state, and private sector veterinarians from across the country who are responsible for surveilling and responding to animal health emergencies of high consequence to US animal agriculture. As you know, agriculture is critically important to the state of Iowa and its people, past, present, and future.
▶ 0:49:34Iowa is a national leader in animal agriculture both in production and processing and a substantive exporter of value added food products. This is why the ISUBDL has a long history of being front and center in diagnosing and supporting responses of emerging disease of high consequence to Iowa and US animal agriculture.
▶ 0:49:53As Randy mentioned, ISU VDL's team of 30 faculty and 155 55 technical staff process greater than 125 case submissions conducting more than 1.7 million assays annually. ISUDL carries amongst the largest food animal centered case loads in our country with submissions of livestock and poultry or origin representing greater than 90% of the cases received.
▶ 0:50:16ISUBDL's principal clientele are the practicing veterinarians who are working directly into the support of the veterary health care needs of US farmers and ranchers on a day daily basis. This connectivity to the boots on the ground of Iowa and US animal agriculture positions our laboratory very well in our role as a level one lab in the national animal health lab network.
▶ 0:50:38Our work includes receiving and supporting endemic, emerging, and foreign animal disease case investigations, surveillance, and supporting response efforts in support of the NAN's mission to protect US animal health, public health, and the nation's food supply. In my view, the NOL is an exemplary example of a highly functional and effective partnership amongst federal, state, university, and industry partners.
▶ 0:51:02The efficiencies of the federal funds invested in the non are greatly amplified through the leveraging of the substantive laboratory infrastructure, subject matter expertise, quality assured laboratory testing capabilities, research scientists, and the direct connectivity to the front lines of of US animal agriculture that exists at our university and state diagnostic labs across the country.
▶ 0:51:25The federal support provided through the null is a cornerstone for enhancing national preparedness to effectively monitor and respond to the everinccreasing risk and realities of emerging disease of high importance to both animal and human ISUBDL's role in working in partnership with our USDA colleagues, practicing veterinarians, peer laboratories, and the state and federal animal health officials from across the country in support of the detection response to the high path aven influenza outbreak impacting US poultry flocks and dairy herds in the past two
▶ 0:51:55years is simply the most recent example of the ISUVDL and USDA and all partners from across the country stepping up in a time of need. Such capabilities are only made possible through the federal investment in this vital network. In summary, I believe the federal investments in the non represent a true win-winwin win for US animal health, public health, for US agriculture more broadly, and for enhancing the security, safety, and affordability of our nation's food supply.
▶ 0:52:24I thank the members of this committee and leaders within USD Aphus both present and past for your leadership, vision and steadfast support for establishing and continuing to advance the capabilities and reach of the non across our country. Your vision and support have resulted in the development of a highly trusted and capable network veterary network of veterary diagnostic labs that are truly worldclass.
▶ 0:52:48In my opinion, the null is a crown jewel within USDA Aphus veterary services that is uniquely American and unmatched the world around. It is something that each of us as Americans can and should take great pride in. And thank you again for the opportunity to be and speak with you here today.
▶ 0:53:07Thank you, Dr. Maine, for that testimony. Next up, Dr. Jones, please begin when you are ready.
▶ 0:53:14Thank you for including me in this hearing today. My long tenure as state veterinarian has provided me with extensive real world experience. I've seen effective and less effective strategies and I'm very familiar with critical infrastructure that must be in place to mitigate the impacts of catastrophic disease outbreaks. To provide some context, I think of myself as a fire chief and our disease control experts are deployed to contain outbreaks much like containing an almost invisible fire.
▶ 0:53:42We're emergency responders and our strategies are practiced but modified to reflect the specific situation in front of us. State and federal partners work side by side and decisions are made in unified command. Similar to a fire response, our actions like euthanizing entire flocks or halting animal and product movement need to needed to maintain business can be devastating to some but are necessary to minimize the negative impacts on all the nation's herds and flocks.
▶ 0:54:13Continuing the analogy, the National Animal Health Laboratory Network exists to detect new pathogens or that threaten our food system, animal health or public health. It's like the smoke detector that alerts all potentially impacted animal owners and first responders to a problem early enough to reduce losses. This critical detection system also accurately tells us field responders what's in front of us so that we can modify our strategy.
▶ 0:54:43That brings me to my first point. We as a nation and as farmers and ranchers need that smoke detector so that even if the fire department is delayed or overwhelmed, we know there is a problem and we can act to protect our employees and animals. This also brings me to my second point. Given the weight of regulatory response decisions, testing must be accurate, consistent, and timely.
▶ 0:55:10That means we must have a laboratory network with surge capacity, consistent methods, and robust quality control at all member labs. The test results must stand up to scrutiny. For example, last winter we were challenged in California with over H5N1 infected dairies and 68 poultry outbreak control zones. Normally, our California lab tests about 450 samples per month for influenza.
▶ 0:55:41At the peak of this recent outbreak, the sample load was 12,000 samples per month, which is more than 25 times our normal workload. In those four months, the lab network deployed pairs of technicians from labs to California, from other labs to California to help with testing.
▶ 0:56:00Because these technicians performed the same test on the same equipment using the same standard operating procedures at their home lab, they're able to immediately expand our lab capacity. At the height of the outbreak, besides fully using the California lab network, labs in seven other states received, processed, and electronically reported accurate almost realtime results.
▶ 0:56:28My last point is more specific to our way out of the current H5N1 outbreak. I believe we must sustain three concerted efforts and if even one is neglected, the other two will fail. The first is ongoing testing. Through active surveillance, we will detect mutations and exposure levels or prevalence so we can take informed actions to protect animals and people.
▶ 0:56:57Note that the network laboratories have provided over a million test results nationwide in response to the current outbreak. But just as as I just alluded, testing alone will not make the virus or get us out of this outbreak. Biocurity is also needed meaning actions like movement control, traffic control, personal protective equipment, sanitation and decontamination.
▶ 0:57:24When viral reload in the environment is below a certain threshold, we know that biocurity is by far the best tool for preventing disease. But I have seen time and time again that even the best farm biocurity will be overwhelmed if there is too much virus being produced by surrounding poultry, wild birds and dairy cows.
▶ 0:57:48So again biocurity alone will not work if the environment if environmental viral load is not managed. Bringing us to the third effort reducing virus in the environment. Currently, we do this the hard way by euthanizing infected flocks and by allowing dairy immunity to develop after exposure.
▶ 0:58:13Dairy exposure means a huge percent of herd suffers through um bloody snotty noses, aborted pregnancies, no interest in food and water, and utters that dry up. This is not a path that most herd managers ever want to travel. and poultry producers must now use biocurity to defend their flocks not only from other infected flocks and wild birds but also from dairies that may be actively infected for months.
▶ 0:58:42Note that of the 17 states that have had infected dairy cows, 12 have experienced poultry outbreaks directly from those dairy cases. I believe we need dairy vaccine in the toolbox yesterday, especially for regions currently free from disease.
▶ 0:59:02If I were a poultry producer, a beef producer, a swine producer, or a dairy producer, I would be banging my fist on the table to vaccinate dairy cattle way ahead of poultry.
▶ 0:59:15Thank you, doctor.
▶ 0:59:15USDA can successfully keep trade doors open when millions of dairy cows are actively infected with H5N1. you're confident they can get the job done for a vaccine.
▶ 0:59:27Great. Your your time is expired. Thank you all for our witnesses for for being here uh this morning. At this time, members will be recognized for questions in order of seniority, alternating between majority and minority members and in order of arrival for those who joined us after the hearing convened. You'll be recognized for five minutes each in order to allow us to get to as many questions as possible. First, I'll reconcile myself for five minutes.
▶ 0:59:50The National Bio and Aggro Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas is a state-of-the-art facility that will help protect the nation's agriculture, farmers, and consumers against the threat and potential impacts of serious foreign animal health diseases. Inbath has biosafety levels two, three, and four laboratories, allowing them to study and diagnose the most consequential animal pathogens. ENBF plays a critical role in our animal disease preparedness and management and is an important partner to the NL system. Dr. Dr.
▶ 1:00:19Rick, how does Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory collaborate with INBAF and how will each of your operations supplement one
▶ 1:00:28Um, we we are excited to have Inbaff as our neighbor uh in Manhattan, Kansas. Um, and so uh INBAF has uh multiple missions. One of those is research and one of those is service which is the null north battle lab that was discussed. And so the NOLM being a network, our interaction with them through the NOLM um and uh confirmatory testing is going to be the same as all of the known laboratories.
▶ 1:00:54Um for that um the other thing that you might see us uh assist in BathF is training the future technicians for them. often entry level will come in, we will train um and they may go to work in INBAF but ultimately the collaboration will be very similar among all of the state laboratories with INBAF being our parent lab and our confirmatory testing place.
▶ 1:01:19Great. Thank you. Um next question. The detection of the new world screw room in Mexico is a huge threat to our domestic cattle producers. USD estimates that a temporary outbreak in Texas alone would cost producers $732 million per year. If you expand those results to the states within the historic range of the new world screw room pre- eradication, a contemporary outbreak would cost producers as much as 4.3 billion dollars per year and cause a total economic loss of over 10 billion.
▶ 1:01:48These are not losses our producers or our economy can afford. Um again for you Dr. uh Relech, surveillance and testing capacity was critical to eradicating this pest back in the 60s. How are the non laboratories involved in preventing the spread of screwworm and what role would they play if the pest were to reach our shores?
▶ 1:02:06So as stated earlier the non labs many of them are universities and state departments of a which have specialists. These specialists are highly trained in to recognize uh diseases and new disease threats. At KVDL like many of the other labs in the network we have parasettologists and pathologists on staff that have already gone through training to recognize this. Um and so we will recognize through there.
▶ 1:02:30Um the null also is discussing it in its weekly calls updating us and providing training and in addition with the case load that comes through these diagnostic laboratories in the states. Um we see all sorts of things and uh animals for disposal allowing us a large case load to surveil uh coming in through routine
▶ 1:02:52Great. And and final question um will be for you doc Dr. Hain. Two weeks ago, the one big beautiful bill was signed into law. We were able to secure historic investments to modernize the farm safety net, promote egg products overseas, increase research and research, and important to this hearing, shore up our animal health tools. Under the one big beautiful bill act, the non system will receive $10 million annually through fiscal year 2030 on top of existing discretionary spending.
▶ 1:03:19Um, at a time when foreign animal diseases are threatening our producers on all fronts, how will this investment help your lab to prepare for and respond to an
▶ 1:03:27Well, thank you. It will be of tremendous help, I would say, from providing a base of capacity and capability which is principally driven by our people and that additional funding will enable I think across the laboratory to really help with um I would say maintaining adequate preparedness via the people in the laboratory. Right. Dr. Insley, anything to uh to add to that?
▶ 1:03:52No, I think that's that's that's true. I'd agree with what Dr. Maine said,
▶ 1:03:59Um right. Well, I I'll yield back the balance of my time. And next up, I will recognize the gentleman from New York, uh Mr. Rally.
▶ 1:04:06Thank you. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for um organizing this really important hearing. And to our witnesses, thank you for coming to testify, particularly given the extraordinary challenges a lot of you had for uh with traveling here. Um Dr. Rita, am I pronouncing that correctly? Is it Rita?
▶ 1:04:24Very close. Retalik.
▶ 1:04:26Okay. Well, um I uh really appreciated uh your testimony um about N's role in defending our country against uh agro terrorism um food security's national security. I think that's become kind of cliche over time, but it's actually uh really true.
▶ 1:04:46And um my colleague Zach Nun on the other side of the aisle and I uh recently introduced bipartisan legislation that would crack down on aggro terror threats from the communist Chinese the Chinese Communist uh party. Our bill uh creates new criminal offenses for knowingly and recklessly importing high-risk agricultural biological agents.
▶ 1:05:10uh and we'll have tougher penalties for individuals who are doing that when they're tied to foreign uh adversaries. I think this is a really pressing issue uh that demands urgency particularly in light of I know you had in your written testimony one recent example of this. was hoping you might be able to elaborate a little bit on how uh Nolan's labs work together to detect and prevent um agot terrorist threats and what more support you need from us on this committee to make sure we're keeping our food supply safe.
▶ 1:05:41So for the yeah the aggro terrorism is a significant threat um to the United States agriculture um and so through the laboratories through nol null has weekly calls um and that's with all the laboratories and that is key for communication about what we're seeing um and how how to commun and what testing needs to be done. um we know that a way to control an outbreak um for say from aggro terrorism is through diag testing.
▶ 1:06:11It's one of those methods and so um the coordination through null with all of the state laboratories um is vital in protecting or responding to an event of aggro terrorism uh very quickly. And so for support again you're already on that track for us.
▶ 1:06:30you've added funding for us to increase our capacity and so that is a critical part for us is maintaining funding or increasing funding to help support these laboratories um and their uh surveillance for these type of uh agarism events.
▶ 1:06:45Thank you. Is anybody else on the panel interested in addressing this issue of aggro terrorism? I would just add to the to Jaime's comments what is that um the the NOM is a very frontline facing thing.
▶ 1:07:00So like just at our local laboratory there at Iowa we have you know over 2500 case submissions a week coming in from Iowa and from across the country that are you know food animal veterinarians that are working with their producers and ranchers about things that don't quite look right on their farm. And uh and I think that really provides that as an init mentioned is like that first line of defense of of of identification and early response would be very critical in any such endeavor.
▶ 1:07:29It's really helpful. Thank you. Um I'm honored uh to represent Cornell University which as you all know is uh home to some of the brightest scientific minds uh working at the animal health diagnostics center which is a a level one uh null. And I think um you mentioned collaboration you all had done with the the brilliant folks at uh Cornell and as all of you highlighted in uh your testimony.
▶ 1:07:53Uh the N program is is just so important not just for uh animal health but also food security and we're dealing with grocery prices here, right? Because if um there if there are outbreaks and that's going to drive uh drive uh grocery prices. One of the things I'd be interested in hearing a little bit more about with my limited time is making sure we have the workforce and the pipeline of folks uh coming into these labs.
▶ 1:08:18Um I think we're not doing a good enough job in this country making sure that STEM education is available in our rural communities and it's something that I want to work on improving. Just curious with my limited time and this can be for anybody. Um how do we make sure we've got the next generation of veterinarians and scientists and lab techs coming uh coming to you?
▶ 1:08:37What one thing I uh would mention is that so um like the the labs we're just example of one but uh is very involved in the teaching and training of the next generation of veterinarians, diagnosticians and veterary scientists and we use this flow this very rich case load of very real world stuff that's going on out in the country and we use that is fully integrated into the the training and teaching the next generation of vet
▶ 1:09:08food especially food animal interest veterinarians from across the country.
▶ 1:09:11That's great. I I appreciate that very much. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll um I recognize the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Van Horton, for five
▶ 1:09:20Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um Dr. Hensley, I just want to say that we prayed for the entire state of Texas this morning at conference. Um it's just devastating and um if there's anything we can do to help, please. Um losing a child is something I'm familiar with and it's horrible. So, I want you to know that we're with you here, and that's a that's a bipartisan thing.
▶ 1:09:40Thank you very much.
▶ 1:09:41You're welcome, sir. who is taking the lead tracking this new world screworm? Because it's not just going to have a devastating effect on beefers. It's going to ruin the state of Wisconsin's economy as far as dairy goes. And so, who in this group is actually the focal point? Um, I learned in the military that if everybody's in charge, no one is. And we need to make sure that someone is.
▶ 1:10:10That's a good point. I think right now, of course, USDA is the primary um agency because they're monitoring what's going on in Mexico. Uh, Texas Animal Health Commission is very involved in Texas, uh, working with USDA. We're involved.
▶ 1:10:29There's a weekly call between Texas Animal Health Commission, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, ourselves, Texas Department of State Health Services, and the USDA's veterary services staff in Texas. And I think that's very important. So, we're all hearing what the most current information is uh about where that screw worm is and what's potentially being done.
▶ 1:10:54uh you know there's uh money has been I think given to Mexico to try to retrofit a a fruitfly plant down there. That's going to take time. There's efforts to start uh a plant there in mission at least uh to be able to rear some of the flies that come from Mexic Panama for release. But all of these things take time.
▶ 1:11:22So, I think surveillance is going to be extremely important. Uh, and that's going to be everybody in the state of Texas is going to have to be involved in that. But I think as far as leading the information right now, it's it's USDA and Texas Animal Health Commission. Okay. And I think everyone so far in the state is working together. Uh, Texas&M Aggro Life Extension Service has been very involved.
▶ 1:11:50We did a a uh online uh talk here few weeks ago. There were 4,000 people that signed up for that to hear what the current status is. What is New World's screw worm? We've got a population now even of ranchers that have no idea. They weren't alive back
▶ 1:12:10So, doctor, let me um hold on a sec here, please. Uh so, I'm going to have uh USDA and OM in my office tomorrow morning at 08 if you're around. If they deliver your luggage tonight, that'd be great. I don't care what you look like. We're from Wisconsin. I'll give you a Miller light at 8 in the morning. No one cares. Um, so, uh, they're going to be in tomorrow morning. And again, that's a real invitation if you want to come. It's right upstairs here. But what what type of relationships do you guys have with your foreign carparts?
▶ 1:12:41So, you know, this started down south there. There's the uh the plant in Panama. There's one in Mexico. There's one in actually the state of Georgia. and we're going to talk about trying to retrofitting these. What What type of relationships do you guys have with your Mexican counterparts and Panameanian counterparts?
▶ 1:12:57Okay. Us as a diagnostic lab, we really do not have contacts with the Mexican
▶ 1:13:04Would it be helpful for you to do that and can I facilitate that for you? I think where we where we need to be, we need the current information and whether that's coming from us working with the Mexicans or we need to have the current information coming from the USDA. Uh and that goes back through the Texas Animal Health Commission. To me, that that's where we need uh to be sure that everyone there is getting the most current information.
▶ 1:13:31And I think they've been doing a good job of trying to keep us updated on where that screw worm is. Is it still moving north?
▶ 1:13:39I think they have a tremendous economic incentive to do so because we get a lot of feeder cattle from Mexico and that has stopped.
▶ 1:13:45Yes, we have a tremendous incentive to do that.
▶ 1:13:48Yes, sir. Well, with that, I yield uh back the balance of my time. And sir, I'm sorry before I yield back. Um I'd like to get a hold of you uh later.
▶ 1:13:54Yes, sir.
▶ 1:13:55And if anybody else would like to come to that meeting tomorrow morning, that's a real offer, too. I yield back.
▶ 1:13:58Thank you.
▶ 1:13:59Thank you, Mr.
▶ 1:13:59Gentleman Rose. I now recognize a gentleman from Iowa, Mr. Finstra, for 5
▶ 1:14:04Thank you, Chairman Mann. Uh, thank you to each of one of our witnesses. Greatly appreciate you here. The National Animal Health Laboratory Network plays a critical role in safeguarding uh animal health, supporting for disease surveillance, protecting security of our national food supply. This is very critical. Um, we just passed some extra dollars in our reconciliation bill, which is wonderful. But Dr.
▶ 1:14:28I would like to ask you all right so we have these dollars which is wonderful how does that affect you and your lab but more importantly what else can we do I mean is there more instead of money policy that we could go down and look at what is your thoughts on that
▶ 1:14:44yeah I think the the support of the non program as a whole and then the additional funding that that does it does trickle down essentially to the member labs and again that that that provides, I'd say, some base funding to help enhance the robustness of cap human resourcebased capabilities that exists at at these laboratories.
▶ 1:15:11And I I just can't tell you how important I believe that is to be able to support something the the overall work that the lab does. Um I think as a as a you know additional work in committee I think what I would principally say is um thank you and I think the like I mentioned in my testimony is I think the leadership and support of seeing the value in uh disease knows no borders across our country.
▶ 1:15:41And so having that connectivity across states to be able to support um as as a as a true nation I just think is really vital. and and the NM is the key to make that component work.
▶ 1:15:55I want to talk about a couple different diseases. Obviously, in my district and around the country, high path avian influenza is is so critical, dangerous right now. 180 million birds have been affected and been euthanized. Uh 30 million in Iowa. Mr. Dr. Secretary Rollins has done a great job uh putting things together.
▶ 1:16:20How do we how do we eradicate this or how do we get it to where we don't have millions of birds still dying? I mean, it seems like we're we understand that, you know, this is going to happen, but is there some preventative way that we can stop Yeah, I think um um surveillance is key.
▶ 1:16:41Uh bio security is key and I think as you know there's there's been a lot of discussion about the opportunities for for new tools um to to be in place via immunization. Uh that could be another tool in the toolbox that um would present as the opportunity for some strategic use cases to the for lack of better words the most vulnerable.
▶ 1:17:08Um but obviously there's lots of sensitivities around that principally because of the impact of vaccination can have on international trade
▶ 1:17:16and um I know that's an active conversation that's occurring amongst u you know poultry producers dairy producers and then the different segments of the poultry industry um both by segment of industry meaning layer versus broiler versus turkey as well as regions and I think my only encouragement just a personal opinion would be to um anything that can be done to help further those conversations because I think we're going to need more tools than less and the threats um
▶ 1:17:46from you know wildlife are not going to go
▶ 1:17:48Nope, that's exactly right. I want to speak on on how the lab works to prevent and the consequences of African swine and fever sweeping our nation. I mean to me it just worries me and obviously we just talked about biocurity. uh what are the broader goals here of of the pork sector? I mean, do you see anything else from the lab side or anything that we can do to make sure that this uh doesn't hit our uh hit hit our swine?
▶ 1:18:17Early detection will be absolutely paramount. Um early detection will be absolutely paramount. Obviously, the labs play a role in that. And then um advancing our systems of traceability that we have in this country uh is going to be uh also very critically to be able to tra track track and trace in a in a mo in a modern way. And I think there's there's things of foot that are continuing to move that forward.
▶ 1:18:44And I think those would be two key things that uh would be critically important as well as obviously the tremendous efforts that are happening at the border
▶ 1:18:52to mitigate mitigate entry because that's the biggest win. Yep. Well, well, thank you. Thank you for your time. I mean, these are two critical situations that you get all four of you are involved in, and I thank you for that. And with that, I yield back.
▶ 1:19:05Yield. I now recognize a gentleman from California, Mr. Gray, for five minutes.
▶ 1:19:12Thank you, uh, chairman, and, uh, thank you to our witnesses for being here today. Appreciate, uh, your participation. Uh, it's certainly, uh, nice to see Dr. Jones. It's always great to see a fellow Californian uh here in the swamp and with this humidity lately, I'm really understanding why they call this place the swamp.
▶ 1:19:33But uh yeah, I appreciate the opportunity to speak today on the vital role of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network uh and its role in safeguarding American agriculture. as uh a representative of the central valley in California, a region where uh agriculture couldn't be uh more important, we certainly uh know firsthand the importance of strong animal health systems.
▶ 1:19:56The National Animal Health Laboratory Network is a critical piece of America's biocurity uh infrastructure as it serves as our early warning system for animal diseases. Our dairy farms, poultry producers, uh livestock operations really form the backbone of California's a economy and the health of uh these animals is not just a matter of economics.
▶ 1:20:19Uh as a major outbreak could devastate farms, threaten food security and and certainly would collapse uh local economies and the folks uh that I represent. Non's surge capacity is very important to a state like California. As Dr. Dr. Jones mentioned in her testimony, California's lab test sample load was 25 times higher than normal at the peak of H5N1 outbreak and non-deployed technicians from labs across the country to assist in response efforts.
▶ 1:20:49The standardization of testing and methodology across non labs allowed for the immediate expansion of lab capacity, meaning efforts to address California's outbreak were taking place across seven different states. When a farmer is deciding uh whether to depopulate thousands of birds, this is the data he is referencing. Simply put, the values of accurate and timely data when you are making potentially business altering decisions uh is priceless. Couldn't be more important.
▶ 1:21:2125 millions $25 million a year is not enough to ensure that 64 labs across the country have the tools necessary to protect American agriculture. Dr. Dr. Jones, in uh your testimony, you highlight the importance of reducing the H5N1 virus in the environment and how the current methods of euthanizing infected flocks and promoting dairy immunity development through infection are not enough.
▶ 1:21:46Um what do you think are the best biocurity methods uh dairy and poultry farmers should implement to reduce H5N1 presence uh on their farms? Okay, that is the most difficult question in the world to answer right now because dairy farms in particular are very open um in states that enjoy good weather. That's why our dairies thrive because the weather allows for open barns which means animals move in and out, birds move in and out.
▶ 1:22:15So bio biocurity is difficult. Um movement control of cows is extremely important which is why we quarantine our herds in California as we do in other states. Um, but it's also why we brought up the the why I mentioned and why immunity is really important because basic biocurity will help stop the spread of virus from dairies to other dairies or to poultry but um it it needs the it needs
▶ 1:22:46help with from the animals own immune system. So that's again why I'm I'm really um encouraging the nation to consider having that tool in their toolbox to vaccinate dairy cows. For poultry, biocurity is a little bit more straightforward. They tend to be in more enclosed environments and movement control, wild bird control, etc. seems to be pretty effective unless they're drowning in virus in the environment around them.
▶ 1:23:14Then their biocurity will not work either. Thank you. Um,
▶ 1:23:20but research is really important to understand the spread and there's a lot of research going on nationwide.
▶ 1:23:26Yeah, I couldn't agree more. Farmers play a critical role in the fabric of disease response as their cooperation, early reporting are essential to the rapid containment of outbreaks. The lab's work uh obviously can only be effective if if uh they have that trust. I know that livestock producers can be wary of working with federal partners. How do you uh build and maintain good relationships with producers so that that work can
▶ 1:23:55My two favorite questions. Um livestock producers definitely can be very skeptical of government. So the key is to have a relationship, open communication, show them the facts, show them the tests, have reliable tests and and share information as fast as possible and involve them in helping um with best practices for uh mitigating the effects of the disease.
▶ 1:24:19So in California, I wouldn't say all the producers love us, but we certainly have a a very good relationship with them and they are our very most important cooperators and are on our side.
▶ 1:24:30Great. Thank you. appreciate that. Um
▶ 1:24:32that the gentleman's time's expired.
▶ 1:24:34Yep. Was going to yield back.
▶ 1:24:36Okay. Thank you. Um next we'll um I recognize the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Barrett, for five minutes.
▶ 1:24:43Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank u thank our witnesses for being here. You know, I recognize how important uh your efforts are in protecting our livestock industry, but agriculture in general across our country. So, I think it's uh very important. Um, and I was glad to hear several of you mention that uh, livestock and biological security is also food security and that's very important to all of us. And Dr.
▶ 1:25:12Jones, you mentioned it wasn't in your testimony, but I I saw the figures that I thought were relevant to what we're talking about today. There's what 25 million you have down 25 million to 64 labs across the country to maintain the skills equipment and all that sort of thing which I think is an important factor to keep in mind when you when you think that happy could could cost uh USDA about $2 billion foot and mouth disease could cost us $200 billion I'm just trying to
▶ 1:25:42establish the relevance and the importance of what you do around the country so uh I would I would give you the opportunity Dr. Jones to elaborate because also in your testimony you mentioned that uh you would be asking for dairy cattle to be vaccinated ahead of poultry, swine and dairy and that so or I mean uh poultry, swine and beef. So would you care to elaborate on that?
▶ 1:26:09Yeah. What what my my intent with that comment is if I was a swine producer, I would be asking USDA and my state animal health officials and vaccine manufacturers to look into vaccinating dairy cows to protect my pigs. I'd want those dairy cows vaccinated. If I was a beef producer, I would want those dairy cows vaccinated.
▶ 1:26:33If I was a poultry producer, I would want those dairy cows vaccinated because the way that a dairy clears virus is living through the infection as it moves through the herd. Some of our herds have been under quarantine for over 300 days. So that means they are potentially spreading virus in the environment that long because we're we're reducing virus in those herds through natural immunity. If we could vaccinate them, it would move it faster.
▶ 1:27:03The comment on trade is the key to that. But we can't have those trade discussions if we don't put if we don't push dairy vaccine a little bit
▶ 1:27:16Uh, you know, that brings up a couple of quick questions. When you think about a lot of our swine producers in Meer in Indiana, uh we're in confinement units. So you have more biological or more uh of birds getting into the buildings to a certain extent whereas cattle are the same way that a lot of them are concentrated the feed lot cattle. But the range cattle is there is there a difference between the range cattle and the dairy cattle because they're confined in most cases.
▶ 1:27:44Is there a difference there in the spread of disease through birds? Um I think you were asking is there a difference like is it does the the disease have a pref preference for dairy versus beef? Yeah, the beef cow the cow calf herds. I mean I'm wonder Yeah. So um there is some some there is some breed um um proclivity of the virus mostly because of the mammorary gland.
▶ 1:28:11So definitely holings and juries seem to be most susceptible to this virus. Um there's no evidence that the virus has been in other breeds for example typical beef breeds. We have seen it in young stock though. It is in calves. it is in feeder cows but primarily dairy breeds.
▶ 1:28:29So you probably know Dr. Brett Marsh in in Indiana Purdue University and he's now be the dean of the college of veterinary medicine. So but I'd like to give all the others an opportunity to just comment on one thing. I could ask questions all the rest of the afternoon. But anyway, uh on the vaccine the vac your perspective on vaccines for uh any any of the species for protecting against happy
▶ 1:28:57I think the it needs to be explored. My understanding the technology exists and it's it's the the the principal barrier to move forward is navigating potential impacts on international trade.
▶ 1:29:15I would agree from what I know there are two vaccine companies looking at two different vaccines for dairy cattle right now. But I think what Annette and Roger said, we do have to look at trade, but we have to weigh that against being able to stop this virus in dairy cattle.
▶ 1:29:35Dr. Rick, you got 10 seconds.
▶ 1:29:38Oh, I'm going to agree with my fellow witnesses. Um, the impact is on the international trade and there's a lot of research going on in the vaccination area and so as more of those conversations happen, um, we'll develop their importance. That's one way to end the conversation, I guess. Thank you. Gentleman's
▶ 1:29:58time. You bet. Okay,
▶ 1:30:01the gentleman yields, I think. And uh the chair now recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina, uh Mr. Harris, for five minutes.
▶ 1:30:09Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I thank all of you on the panel for your time today. And uh just couple of questions I I wanted to toss out here. Uh first, uh Dr. uh Redick. Uh your testimony explains that the Kansas Veterary Diagnostic Laboratory joined uh Nalan Network in 2004, became a level two member in 2016 and advanced to a level one member in 2019.
▶ 1:30:37And of course, as we've talked about, level one labs have the highest standards and have the most advanced diagnostic capabilities, among other things. So if you could take just a moment and explain the process of going from a level two member to a level one member.
▶ 1:30:54So the nonol um has a matrix they put out every two years for the labs to um to assess where the lab is on capacity and the ability to respond. And in this matrix there is uh facility requirements. What equipment do you have? What's your staffing look like? What outreach are you doing? and what known groups, technical groups are you working with?
▶ 1:31:18And so for us, we were able to um uh uh get access to BSL3 testing facilities including necropsy facilities at Kansas State. Um increased equipment and got more active and involved in the NOL through outreach and technical groups. And so that was with that we were able to raise to a level one.
▶ 1:31:40Great. Well, thank you for sharing that. I think it's important that we see as many labs as possible continue to advance and and move forward to achieve level one status in order to to best fulfill their purposes. I I guess my other question and I would just toss this out to any of you on the on the panel that would be willing to share. One of the roles that all of your labs play is communicating with producers about emerging and existing animal health threats.
▶ 1:32:09um how do you go about your those educational efforts and how have you been the beneficiary of such efforts? I go down the row if you'd like.
▶ 1:32:20I could start with that one from the KBDL perspective. Um we have webinars we do for clients. Um uh quarterly newsletters, email list, so if a new disease pops up, we can get it out to our our clientele and let them know know something's there. Um we have veterinarians that uh attend producer meetings around the state. Um and we also have a field investigation unit.
▶ 1:32:45And then being located at a college of veterary medicine, the CE events bring in those veterinarians too and we were able to communicate that route with them too. So we have several ways to communicate what's going on with our
▶ 1:32:58Sort of the same thing at TVMDL. We do podcast. Uh we put uh educational information on our website. Uh we have a veterary services section that we routinely interact with veterinarians and and producers. Uh we attend producer meetings uh give presentations there. We work with the aglife extension service to help provide information through that resource.
▶ 1:33:26So we have a number of outreach efforts that we uh do to try to get information out to producers and veterinarians of course.
▶ 1:33:36Okay. Thank you.
▶ 1:33:39Yep. I would just say that our principle focuses on educating our veterinarians, the practicing veterinarians and then they in turn are working with their producers. And so it's that and like 98% of our case load is the same practicing veterinarians submitting week after week after week. And so we have really great I'd say uh close working relationships with those veterinarians about what's happening with not only with their case load but with the lab more broadly.
▶ 1:34:06And then they're in turn sharing that with the veterinarians in addition to to more traditional partnerships with our extension service.
▶ 1:34:13Okay. All right.
▶ 1:34:16Same in same in California. Okay, great. Well, thank you very much for for sharing that and I know that uh this is an important very important way that we're communicating and getting that information out there and indeed it um it makes a difference in the entire food security of our entire nation. So, thank you for all that you do. Mr. Chairman, with that I yield back.
▶ 1:34:38Gentlemen yields. I now recognize the gentleoman from Connecticut, Mrs. Hayes, for five minutes. Good morning and thank you to our witnesses for your testimony and for being here today. The National Animal Health Laboratory Network um plays a key role in protecting food supply chains, identifying disease trends, and limiting the spread of infectious disease among animals. The network also plays a key role in educating producers and the public about potential disease outbreaks.
▶ 1:35:09The Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory at Yukon is the only network laboratory in New England serving producers in Connecticut and across the region. Each year, the lab at Yukon, I didn't mention I'm from trains approximately 40 graduate and undergraduate students and provides them with hands-on learning opportunities. The lab has identified this as an area for growth where it can develop better programming for students to gain real life experiences.
▶ 1:35:39Dr. Jones UC Davis offers numerous outreach opportunities for preeterinary students including summer programs for middle school and high school students to learn about the field. I am an educator by trade and I am always thinking about pipeline capacity building the future how we engage young people much earlier and introduce them to the potential of so many careers that are within their grasp. Can you describe how your how your laboratory partners with UC Davis to train veterinary
▶ 1:36:12Sure. the the um the California the animal health lab at Davis not only has a lab at located at Davis but they also have lab sites at different locations throughout the state. So, um, they're able to partner with not only the students there at Davis, but also have them bring them a little bit further down into our central valley, which is really the heart of agriculture in California to give them a little bit more of a taste of the real world of of producing food for large, you know, large groups of people.
▶ 1:36:43So, um, that's one of the examples of how they they um interact with the vet school and with the undergraduates and high schools. Can you talk a little bit about how you utilize the National Animal Health Network uh laboratory network to perform outreach to students and just uh I guess expose them because what I've heard many young people have an idea of what they think uh careers and professions are.
▶ 1:37:10But it's not until they have some actual practical interaction that they really kind of see themselves doing that work. A lot of the um that type of role if you're talking about the laboratory network itself network that you use.
▶ 1:37:25Yeah. A lot of that exposure comes through um summer hires and tours and it gives gives students a real flavor for the science technology um involved in today's um animal health um world and food safety world.
▶ 1:37:43Dr. Ma, I see you nodding your head. Did you want to add something?
▶ 1:37:47Yes. So, um, at at Iowa is it's very much the, uh, I think it's over half of the students at Iowa State College of Med graduating go into either mixed or large animal practice.
▶ 1:38:00And the vast majority of those students are not farm They're students that are bright and they be through their through work experiences at school, internships, whether that in undergraduate and and externships in veterary school got turned on to uh animal agriculture and have chosen to make a profession of it.
▶ 1:38:22Thank you. And I appreciate you adding that because many of my farmers um are telling me now like their children don't want to go into uh a related field. So we have to be more attractive to a broader network of young people in order to infuse this pipeline. Um in 2023 a study by John's Hopkins University found that the number of animal food animal veterinarians has decreased by 90% since World War II.
▶ 1:38:50Today less than 2% of veterinarians work exclusively with food animals. Outside the lab, veterinarians are the first line of defense during a disease outbreak. uh meeting first with impacted farmers and then reporting their farmer their findings to network labs. Dr. Relik is the material in the materials you provided to our committee, you mentioned that the Kansas State Veterary Diagnostic Laboratory experienced a 62% faculty turnover in 2022. Has your lab worked to address these shortages?
▶ 1:39:20And what could Congress do to help um with that effort?
▶ 1:39:25Um I I do think that all the labs saw shortages in 2022. Um for us uh it was getting in more technicians. We developed a technician internship pipeline or program and so we started bringing in those younger generations for technicians. Um we were able to increase our residents.
▶ 1:39:46our residents are those uh uh training to be faculty and so we were able to increase our pathology residents and so again we're thankful for the support we get through the non that does help support salaries and so that uh investment is going back to helping train those technicians with salary support providing the internships and helping us uh train future faculty through residencies and graduate programs which is important in uh keeping They are staffed.
▶ 1:40:17Thank you. And with that, I yield back and thank you for your Oh, hey,
▶ 1:40:22young lady yields back. Next, we go to the great state of Indiana, Representative Mesmer.
▶ 1:40:27Thank you, Chairman, and thank you witnesses for being here today. Uh, with turkey products accounting for nearly threequarters of the total live livestock and animal production in my district, high path aven influenza remains a major threat. Thanks to the outstanding efforts of Purdue's animal disease diagnostic laboratory and onfarm bio security measures, my district avoided an outbreak this year.
▶ 1:40:49But even even without a confirmed case, our farmers are daily in contact with Purdue As the only NIN lab in the state, Purdue ran more than 11,000 aven flu tests in the first two months of this year alone. Dr. Maine and Dr. Talik, each of your labs also serve as the island facility in your state, giving the strains a egg a states of our size can put on a singular facility. How important is it that our labs are well staffed and equipped with state-of-the-art
▶ 1:41:23It's it's very important that we are are very well staffed. Um we watch our molecular sections. Um Nolan is primarily molecular test and so making sure we are rapid on keeping those staffs. we also have on call uh for those sections.
▶ 1:41:37Um and then um so yep, it's important to make make sure that we stay staffed and the equipment um that we get through the null funding helps us when we can add equipment or replace aging equipment um that serves to increase our capacity also.
▶ 1:41:55And I would just echo that is that it's been very important to us as a the state of Iowa to have a robust um state-of-the-art food animal centered veterary diagnostic laboratory to support Iowa and then broader US animal agriculture and so we've been very blessed in that way and um and I think and it's being leveraged in that we kind of function as an extension of the practitioners and veterary practices that we serve.
▶ 1:42:26And I think it's that daytoday we're essentially an extension of their business as is a trusted partner and we think those relationships that we use daytoday are can be leveraged are are leveraged greatly when you get into times of crisis.
▶ 1:42:42Thank you. Uh for bringing the purpose for the purpose of bringing funding into perspective, would each of you share how much federal funding your facility receives compared to the value of the livestock industry your lab protects? um for for the state of Kansas um for the level one the annual infrastructure um is approximately 250,000 um the uh the Kansas livestock is 12.9 billion
▶ 1:43:12um we do receive uh many years supplemental funding also in addition but it's primarily that infrastructure 250,000 from the NOL as a level one
▶ 1:43:23right same here is the 250,000 and then Iowa would be about 35 billion animal.
▶ 1:43:30Same here.
▶ 1:43:32Excellent. Well, uh, each year animal product sales in Indiana total more than three and a half billion and based on your responses, I think it's safe to say the investments HR1 included for Nolan will be paid back in spades. So, thank you for that. Uh, also last Tuesday, Secretary Rollins issued a national farm security action plan. The plan highlights the importance of addressing biocurity threats from our foreign adversaries. Dr. Ritalik, in your opinion, is Nalin currently equipped to handle major bioteterrorism?
▶ 1:44:01And if not, what do we need to do to make our nation and our a system protected?
▶ 1:44:05Um, again, the null, a key part of Nolan is that communication among the 64 laboratories. It provides that robust network, which is that first line of defense. And so, I believe the NOL is very well equipped to respond. Um capacity can always be increased and improved in efficiency.
▶ 1:44:25And so any funding that can help with uh salaries and equipment to increase that capacity for the labs is always going to be beneficial in in an instance like that
▶ 1:44:38because one of the things when it's early detection system but then it's also going back to the need for laboratory capacity that can again knows no boundaries within the US is very important especially when you're getting into mult multif focal incident incident. residences and the vast majority of the testing involved is demonstrating where the disease or incursion is not to be able to maintain continuity of business outside of the the pinpoint of this is infected.
▶ 1:45:08But the the proving where it's not is far greater than 95% of all the testing that's happens.
▶ 1:45:14Okay. Thank you for all of your answers and I yield back my time.
▶ 1:45:18Thank you. The gentleman yields back. uh you know, our chairman had to go vote in another committee, so he's asked me to share with you uh some of his closing remarks. Uh the first being how much we appreciate all of you taking the time out of your schedules to be here because we think uh this is an important aspect of of agriculture and food security.
▶ 1:45:39But anyway, he says today's hearing provided the perfect opportunity to highlight for critical work undertaken each and every day by the National Animal Health Laboratory Network. Uh Null's system is a is a shining example of what federal, state, and local collaboration looks like uh when it's done correctly. And the work of Null's Laboratory is absolutely critical to protecting our domestic animal supply, our producers, and national security.
▶ 1:46:06So to our witnesses, thank you uh for being here uh from walking us through the day-to-day operations of Null Laboratories and to explaining the detailed diagnostic testing you and your colleague do in answering our questions about a whole host of foreign animal diseases. Your testimony and expertise have been invaluable. So we look forward to continuing to work with you all and all on the animal health issues for the 119th Congress and for the years to come.
▶ 1:46:37Thank you. And this meeting is