[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 17 (Tuesday, January 27, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 3849-3851]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-1778]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

9 CFR Part 71

[Docket No. 97-099-1]


EIA; Handling Reactors at Livestock Markets

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: We are proposing to amend the regulations pertaining to 
livestock facilities under State or Federal veterinary supervision to 
require that any livestock facility accepting equines classified as 
reactors to equine infectious anemia must quarantine these animals at 
all times at least 200 yards from all equines that are not reactors to 
this disease. Currently, livestock facilities accepting reactors to 
equine infectious anemia are required to quarantine the reactors that 
will remain at the facility for longer than 24 hours at least 200 yards 
away from all other animals. This proposed amendment would help to 
prevent the interstate spread of equine infectious anemia, a 
contagious, vector-borne disease affecting equines.


[[Page 3850]]


DATES: Consideration will be given only to comments received on or 
before March 30, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Please send an original and three copies of your comments to 
Docket No. 97-099-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, 
suite 3C03, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238. Please 
state that your comments refer to Docket No. 97-099-1. Comments 
received may be inspected at USDA, room 1141, South Building, 14th 
Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC, between 8 a.m. and 
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. Persons wishing to 
inspect comments are requested to call ahead on (202) 690-2817 to 
facilitate entry into the comment reading room.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. James P. Davis, Senior Staff 
Veterinarian, National Animal Health Programs Staff, VS, APHIS, 4700 
River Road Unit 36, Riverdale, MD 20737-1231, (301) 734-5970; or E-
mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The regulations in subchapter C, ``Interstate Transportation of 
Animals (Including Poultry) and Animal Products,'' of chapter I, title 
9, of the Code of Federal Regulations contain provisions designed by 
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to prevent the 
dissemination of animal diseases in the United States. Part 71 of 
subchapter C includes general provisions. Section 71.20 pertains to 
APHIS approval of livestock facilities, which include stockyards, 
livestock markets, buying stations, concentration points, or any other 
premises under State or Federal veterinary supervision where livestock 
are assembled. Section 71.20(a) includes an agreement that livestock 
facilities must execute to obtain APHIS approval, and subparagraph (16) 
of the agreement pertains to livestock facilities that accept horses. 
(According to the definitions in Sec. 71.1, ``horses'' includes 
``horses, asses, mules, ponies, and zebras.'' Throughout this document, 
the same definition applies.) According to Sec. 71.20(a)(16), approved 
livestock facilities may elect either to accept or not accept horses 
that are reactors to equine infectious anemia (EIA).
    EIA is a contagious, potentially fatal disease affecting horses 
that is spread by infected blood coming into contact with the blood in 
a healthy animal. Therefore, humans can spread EIA from horse to horse 
through unsafe vaccination or blood-testing practices; naturally, the 
disease is spread by insect vectors. Although, theoretically, EIA could 
be spread by any type of blood-consuming insect, such as mosquitoes and 
deer flies, the disease is generally spread by large horse flies. EIA 
spreads when a blood-consuming insect is interrupted during a feeding 
on an infected animal and then resumes feeding on an uninfected animal 
while the infected blood is still on the insect's mouthparts. While 
mosquitoes have finely structured mouthparts that directly penetrate 
small blood vessels, the mouthparts of horse flies and deer flies 
include scissorlike blades that cut and slash the horse's skin leaving 
relatively large amounts of blood on the mouthparts. Research has shown 
that deer flies and smaller species of horse flies are not as easily 
disrupted from their bloodmeals on horses as are large horse flies. The 
large flies cause painful bites that trigger a physiological response 
from the horse. If disrupted by the horse while feeding, the horse fly 
may then move to another horse to complete the bloodmeal.\1\
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    \1\ Information regarding research on EIA transmission may be 
obtained by contacting Dr. Tim Cordes, Senior Staff Veterinarian, 
Equine Programs, VS, APHIS, USDA, 4700 River Road Unit 36, 
Riverdale, MD 20737-1231; (301) 734-3279; or e-mail: 
[email protected].
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    Regulations pertaining to the interstate movement of animals 
affected with EIA are located in 9 CFR part 75. According to these 
regulations, EIA reactors may be moved interstate only for immediate 
slaughter, to a diagnostic or research facility, to the animal's home 
farm, or to an approved stockyard for sale for immediate slaughter. 
Approximately 1,600 horses in the United States test positive for EIA 
each year. Currently, 40 percent of these animals move through 
livestock markets on their way to slaughter.
    Section 71.20(a)(16)(ii) currently specifies that approved 
livestock facilities must place any EIA reactor in a quarantined pen at 
least 200 yards from all non-EIA-reactor horses and other animals, 
unless the EIA reactor will be moving out of the facility within 24 
hours of arrival. The purpose of quarantining the EIA reactors is to 
prevent EIA transmission: Because the types of flies that transmit EIA 
generally remain in the immediate vicinity of the horses with which 
they are associated, quarantining EIA reactors at least 200 yards away 
from healthy horses is effective in preventing EIA spread. However, as 
described above, the regulations currently allow an EIA reactor to be 
mixed in with healthy horses if the EIA reactor will be at the 
livestock facility for less than 24 hours. While in the past such 
short-term mixing of healthy and infected horses was not believed to 
contribute significantly to EIA spread, we now believe that allowing 
healthy horses to come into close contact with EIA reactors for any 
length of time could allow for infection of the healthy horses. 
Therefore, to help prevent the interstate spread of EIA, we are 
proposing to prohibit the mixing of healthy and infected horses at 
approved livestock facilities for any period of time. Thus, we are 
proposing to amend the quarantine requirement in Sec. 71.20(a)(16)(ii) 
to remove the quarantine exception for EIA reactors that will be in the 
approved livestock facility for less than 24 hours. EIA reactors would 
need to be quarantined at least 200 yards away from non-EIA-reactor 
horses at all times.
    Currently, Sec. 71.20(a)(16)(ii) also requires that EIA reactors be 
quarantined at least 200 yards away from all other animals in the 
approved livestock facility. This requirement exists because it was 
formerly believed that insect vectors could spread EIA to healthy 
horses as far as 200 yards away from reactors if other animals were 
located between the reactors and the healthy horses. We previously 
believed that a fly could move from a reactor to feed on a nonequine 
animal or animals located nearby and then move on to a healthy horse, 
infecting it. However, as stated previously, we now know that EIA 
transmission by insect vector occurs only when an insect is feeding on 
an infected horse, is interrupted during the feeding, and then moves on 
to feed on a healthy horse while the infected blood is still on the 
insect's mouthparts. Horse flies are not known to feed on nonequine 
animals when horses are available because these flies prefer the 
relatively supple skin of horses. Moreover, the likelihood that blood 
from an infected horse would still be on the insect's mouthparts after 
the insect had fed on another animal is slight. For these reasons, we 
now believe that the possibility of disease transmission occurring 
under these circumstances is extremely unlikely. We are proposing to 
amend Sec. 71.20(a)(16)(ii) to remove the words ``or other animals.'' 
We believe that, in the interest of preventing EIA spread, it is only 
necessary to require EIA reactors to be quarantined at least 200 yards 
away from all equines that are not reactors.

Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory Flexibility Act

    This proposed rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12866. 
The rule has been determined to be not

[[Page 3851]]

significant for the purposes of Executive Order 12866 and, therefore, 
has not been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget.
    The regulations in 9 CFR part 71 require that any horses classified 
as EIA reactors and accepted by a facility for sale are to be placed in 
quarantined pens at least 200 yards from all non-EIA-reactor horses or 
other animals, unless moving out of the facility within 24 hours of 
arrival. The proposed rule would remove the ``less-than-24-hours'' 
exemption: Quarantine would be required regardless of the length of 
time between an EIA reactor's arrival and departure from a facility. 
The proposed rule would also amend the regulations by requiring that 
EIA reactors be quarantined at least 200 yards away from all equines 
that are not reactors, rather than at least 200 yards away from all 
other animals.
    Facilities that buy and sell horses are included in the Small 
Business Administration's SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) 
category ``Livestock Services, Except Veterinary.'' Firms in this 
category with annual receipts of less than $5 million are considered 
small entities. It is likely that most, if not all, of the 
approximately 200 facilities that buy and sell horses are ``small'' 
under this definition.
    Most facilities that buy and sell horses already have quarantine 
pens, in accordance with current regulations. The estimated 20 percent 
that do not have quarantine pens could build or modify existing pens 
for quarantine use at a relatively minor cost: APHIS estimates that, at 
most, construction of a quarantine pen would cost about $1,000.
    However, costs of quarantine pen construction are not attributable 
to this proposed rule because quarantine, per se, is not a new 
requirement. Only those facilities that accept EIA reactors and that 
always move all EIA reactors within 24 hours of arrival would need to 
construct or modify pens for quarantine purposes as a consequence of 
this proposed rule. As no facility can always be certain of movement of 
EIA reactors within 24 hours, no costs should be incurred strictly 
because of this proposed rule. Moreover, by requiring all EIA reactors 
at approved livestock facilities to be quarantined, the horse industry 
in general would benefit from a further reduction in the risk of EIA 
transmission.
    Under these circumstances, the Administrator of the Animal and 
Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that this action would 
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities.

Executive Order 12372

    This program/activity is listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance under No. 10.025 and is subject to Executive Order 12372, 
which requires intergovernmental consultation with State and local 
officials. (See 7 CFR part 3015, subpart V.)

Executive Order 12988

    This proposed rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, 
Civil Justice Reform. If this proposed rule is adopted: (1) All State 
and local laws and regulations that are in conflict with this rule will 
be preempted; (2) no retroactive effect will be given to this rule; and 
(3) administrative proceedings will not be required before parties may 
file suit in court challenging this rule.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This proposed rule contains no information collection or 
recordkeeping requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

List of Subjects in 9 CFR Part 71

    Animal diseases, Livestock, Poultry and poultry products, 
Quarantine, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Transportation.

    Accordingly, 9 CFR part 71 is proposed to be amended as follows:

PART 71--GENERAL PROVISIONS

    1. The authority citation for part 71 would continue to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 21 U.S.C. 111-113, 114a, 114a-1, 115-117, 120-126, 
134b, and 134f; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.2(d).


Sec. 71.20  [AMENDED]

    2. In Sec. 71.20, paragraph (a) would be amended in paragraph 
(16)(ii) of the sample agreement by removing the words ``or other 
animals, unless moving out of the facility within 24 hours of 
arrival''.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 20th day of January 1998.
Terry L. Medley,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 98-1778 Filed 1-26-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P