[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 70 (Wednesday, May 16, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E815-E816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF USDA APHIS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. FRANK D. LUCAS

                              of oklahoma

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 16, 2012

  Mr. LUCAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 40th 
anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant 
Health Inspection Service. While many Americans may not have heard of 
APHIS, the Agency's mission is so far-reaching that most are touched by 
its regulatory activities or policies every day. We in the Agriculture 
Committee understand that when we learned last month of the cow with 
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) that it was APHIS' swift 
response and scientific approach that reassured our trading partners 
that U.S. beef is safe and kept trade moving. We understand that it is 
APHIS whose work every day keeps our country free from many invasive 
insects and diseases like the destructive Mediterranean fruit fly. 
Every day, we hear and see the positive strides this Agency is making 
in support of U.S. agriculture.
  Since APHIS was formed in 1972, it has evolved into a multi-faceted 
Agency with responsibilities that include protecting and promoting U.S. 
agricultural health from foreign animal and plant pests and diseases, 
regulating genetically engineered organisms, administering the Animal 
Welfare Act, and carrying out wildlife damage management activities. To 
carry out its mission, APHIS employees work to create and sustain 
opportunities for America's farmers, ranchers and producers and to 
safeguard the nation's agriculture, fishing and forestry industries. 
For that, I applaud them and join in celebrating this Agency's history.
  During the early 1970s, APHIS was put to the test when it spearheaded 
an enormous effort to control an outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease 
in Southern California that threatened the Nation's entire poultry and 
egg supply.

[[Page E816]]

APHIS mobilized thousands of workers in a response that included an 
investigation of over 77 million birds, administration of 113 million 
doses of vaccines, and maintenance of a quarantine zone spanning 45,000 
square miles. Success was achieved in 1974 and marked the first time 
any country had eradicated such a widespread outbreak of the deadly 
disease, and it provided a blueprint for future animal disease control 
efforts. Using lessons it learned from the earlier outbreak, APHIS 
again lead a taskforce of Federal, State, and private veterinarians in 
2002 to effectively stamp out an exotic Newcastle disease outbreak in 
California and other Western States. This time, however, APHIS and its 
partners eradicated this devastating disease in one-third the time and 
at one-half the cost of prior outbreaks, protecting the health of the 
country's poultry resources, worth more than $23 billion.
  Through the National Boll Weevil Eradication Program launched in the 
late 1970s, APHIS and its partners eradicated boll weevil from 16 of 17 
cotton-producing States, with the last, Texas nearing completion of its 
eradication efforts. This three-decade effort has succeeded through the 
participation and cooperation of industry, State and Federal 
agriculture agencies, and APHIS in sharing costs and developing and 
improving eradication strategies to meet every challenge. APHIS 
continues its myriad of programs dedicated to keeping harmful and 
invasive plant pests and diseases out of this country and eradicating 
them quickly should they arrive. Recently, APHIS and its State and 
industry partners have nearly eliminated European grapevine moth 
infestations, keeping domestic commerce and foreign markets open for 
grapes, stone fruit, berries, and other commodities that would 
otherwise have been threatened by the pest.
  APHIS assumed a new mandate for wildlife damage management in 1985, 
after Congress transferred the Animal Damage Control program from the 
Department of the Interior to USDA. Through this program, APHIS 
provides Federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts 
to allow people and wildlife to coexist. APHIS has provided critical 
support to U.S. agricultural producers over the years finding 
practical, humane, effective, and environmentally safe solutions when 
wildlife attack livestock or damage crops. But the program's impact 
extends beyond agriculture to urban areas, where they work to reduce 
wildlife hazards at the Nation's airports and military airbases, 
eradicate invasive species such as the Giant Gambian rat, and combat 
wildlife rabies.
  APHIS' role in the Federal biotechnology era began in 1986 with the 
``Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology,'' which 
outlined a comprehensive U.S. Government regulatory policy for ensuring 
the safety of biotechnology research and products. In November 1987, 
using new policies for regulating the introduction of genetically 
engineered organisms that might pose risks to plants, APHIS for the 
first time approved a field test, for a tobacco resistant to the 
herbicide bromoxynil. Since then, the Agency has overseen nearly 30,000 
field trials at over 86,000 different locations and approved over 80 
products for nonregulated status--many of which have subsequently been 
further developed and released as varieties used in agriculture 
benefitting farmers and consumers while decreasing overall pesticide 
use and soil erosion.
  APHIS' role in protecting and promoting the health of U.S. 
agriculture is also critical in the international trade arena. As part 
of the move to support growth in international trade while fulfilling 
APHIS' mission to protect American agriculture, APHIS inspectors began 
preclearing imports destined for the United States before they left 
their country of origin in the 1980s. APHIS also began employing other 
approaches to ensure that imported commodities were free of pests and 
diseases--X-ray detection devices began screening baggage for illegal 
material, and APHIS' ``Beagle Brigade,'' established in 1984, sniffed 
out prohibited foods in passenger luggage. Throughout the years, APHIS' 
ability to quickly respond to outbreaks of foreign plant pests and 
diseases, helps assure our trading partners that U.S. products are safe 
and that the United States is a model for protecting the health and 
abundance of agriculture.
  Today, APHIS continues to enhance its animal welfare efforts, 
overseeing the care and treatment of animals regulated under the Animal 
Welfare Act at licensed and registered facilities throughout the United 
States and its territories. APHIS' risk based inspection system enables 
the Agency to focus its resources on the most problematic facilities 
and pursue enforcement against violators.
  Lastly, I applaud APHIS for continuously seeking to work together 
with its partners and stakeholders to achieve success in its programs. 
APHIS is an Agency that recognizes that it must actively work with 
States, Tribal Nations, industry and other stakeholder groups to help 
manage the many issues that affect U.S. agriculture. This coordinated 
effort has enabled the Agency to be successful in protecting our 
valuable agricultural and natural resources. We have seen the results 
of this approach, for example, as the Agency has implemented the Plant 
Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention provisions of the 
2008 Farm Bill. This joint effort by APHIS, states, industry, academia, 
and other stakeholders has yielded great benefits--helping eradicate 
devastating plant diseases such as Plum Pox in Pennsylvania, increasing 
surveys to find foreign pests before they can become established in the 
United States, educating the public on reducing the spread of these 
pests, and enhancing research so we have better tools to protect our 
country from threats to our agricultural and natural resources.
  As you can see, through the decades, APHIS has continued to modernize 
in demonstrating its vitality and significance to farmers, exporters 
and importers, and consumers. APHIS' leadership in protecting and 
promoting the health of U.S. agriculture has served the United States 
well. For that, I want to congratulate APHIS and its hard working 
employees for a highly successful 40 years, and applaud their continued 
commitment to the American people and U.S. agriculture.

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