State and industry input led US farm agency to relax bird flu testing order for cows
bird flu among the nation's dairy cattle after pushback from state and industry officials, according to state and federal records seen by Reuters.
The communications, which have not previously been reported, show how the early federal response to the U.S. bird flu outbreak was shaped in part by industry interests reluctant to cooperate with burdensome regulation, and potentially contributed to transmission of the disease across state lines.
The USDA's order, released in April after bird flu cases were discovered in cows in eight states, requires milk-producing dairy cattle moving across state lines to secure a negative bird flu test no more than seven days prior to travel. It also allows non-producing cattle headed to slaughter to cross state lines without a veterinarian's clean bill of health.
The USDA had initially contemplated more stringent requirements, including a three-day time frame for testing, but responded to industry feedback urging leniency before releasing the order, according to documents contained in the records request.
Relaxing the order may have enabled more spread of the virus, two veterinarians and one dairy industry representative told Reuters. They noted logistical constraints to testing animals in the shorter window.
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