[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 36 (Friday, March 2, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S2560]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ALLARD (for himself, Mr. Hagel, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Baucus, 
        Mr. Durbin, and Mr. Harkin):
  S. 746. A bill to establish a competitive grant program to build 
capacity in veterinary medical education and expand the workforce of 
veterinarians engaged in public health practice and biomedical 
research; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, today I come to the floor to discuss an 
important piece of legislation that I am introducing to address a major 
public health need.
  I am pleased to be joined by Senators Hagel, Brownback, and Baucus.
  Today, I am introducing the Veterinary Public Health Workforce 
Expansion Act, to address the growing shortage of veterinarians in the 
public health sector.
  Over the past decade, the world has faced a significant increase of 
newly emerging infectious disease outbreaks, including West Nile virus; 
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, SARS; monkeypox; and avian 
influenza.
  In addition to their ability to cause severe illness, and even death, 
these diseases share another important characteristic: they are all 
transmitted from animals to man.
  Veterinary medicine is an integral and indispensable component of our 
Nation's public health system.
  Veterinarians protect human health by preventing and controlling 
infectious diseases, ensuring the safety and security of the Nation's 
food supply, promoting healthy environments, and providing health care 
for animals.
  Veterinarians are essential for early detection and response to 
unusual disease events that could be linked to newly emerging 
infectious diseases, or other biothreat agents of concern.
  In fact, it was a veterinarian who first diagnosed West Nile virus in 
the United States and a veterinarian who first notified health 
authonties of the introduction of monkeypox to the United States.
  A veterinarian's prompt diagnosis and reporting of screwworm 
infestation prevent this disease from becoming reestablished in the 
United States, thus saving hundreds of millions of dollars in expensive 
eradication programs.
  There is a need to build national capacity in research and training 
in the prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, and control of newly 
emerging and reemerging infectious diseases.
  Veterinarians are uniquely qualified to address these high-priority 
public health issues because of their extensive professional training 
in basic biomedical sciences, population medicine, and broad, multi-
species, comparative medical approach to disease prevention and 
control.
  There is a shortage of veterinarians working in public health 
practice. As used in the preceding sentence, the term ``public health 
practice'' includes bioterrorism and emergency preparedness, 
environmental health, food safety and food security, regulatory 
medicine, diagnostic laboratory medicine, and biomedical research.
  The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects there to be 28,000 job 
openings in the veterinary medical profession by 2012 due to growth and 
net replacements, a turnover of nearly 38 percent.
  The Nation's veterinary medical colleges do not have the capacity to 
satisfy the current and future demand for veterinarians and veterinary 
expertise that is vital to maintain public health preparedness.
  Veterinary colleges also provide a broad, multi-species, comparative 
medical approach to disease prevention and control, which is 
fundamental to understanding the transmission and life cycle of 
infectious disease agents, especially those that are shared with 
animals.
  Veterinarians have special expertise in preventing and controlling 
these types of diseases, but there is a critical shortage of 
veterinarians working in public health practice, and the Nation's 
veterinary medical colleges do not have enough capacity to meet the 
demand.
  In order to meet the critical shortages of veterinarians today I am 
introducing the Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act, which 
will allow veterinary medical colleges to expand their training 
programs for veterinary public health professionals.
  The Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act will create a 
new competitive grant program for capital improvements to allow 
veterinary medical colleges to expand their training programs for 
public health professionals.
  There are critical shortages of veterinarians across the United 
States, and the Nation's veterinary medical colleges do not have enough 
capacity to meet the demand.
  The Veterinary Public Health Workforce Expansion Act will build 
infrastructure, research laboratories, and classroom space to provide 
training for veterinary students in public health, food safety, 
infectious diseases, global health, and environmental quality.
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