| New
Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Art Brown, Jr., today
hosted a press conference at Newark International
Airport to detail state and federal efforts to prevent
the spread of foot-and-mouth disease into the tri-state
area.
Joining him for the event were Ernest
Zirkle, DVM, State Veterinarian and Director of NJDA's Division
of Animal Health; Mary Negron, Plant Health Director for
New Jersey, USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant
Protection and Quarantine; Roxanne Mullaney, DVM, Area Veterinarian
in Charge for New Jersey, USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service, Veterinary Services; Victor Jacobsen, canine handler,
USDA, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection
and Quarantine; and Mantis, member of USDA's Beagle Brigade.
Brown noted that there were several
critically important things the public should understand about foot-and-mouth
disease:
- The
disease poses no human health threat. Humans cannot contract the
disease and if, by chance, someone were to eat meat from an infected
animal, it would pose no danger.
There
is no relationship between "mad cow disease" (bovine spongiform
encephalopathy) and foot-and-mouth disease. They are totally distinct
and separate diseases with completely different causes. The last
case of foot-and-mouth in the United States was diagnosed in 1929
and there has never been a documented case of mad cow disease in
this country.
- The
primary danger posed by foot-and-mouth is to the bottom line of
livestock and dairy producers in New Jersey and around the nation.
Meat and dairy production from animals that recover from the virus
is always significantly reduced and the animals can spread the
disease for the rest of their lives. The only real "cure" for the
disease is to destroy
the animals.
Brown
also discussed the formation last week of the Foot-and-Mouth Emergency
Task Force in New Jersey. "It mirrors efforts under way in both Pennsylvania
and New York," he said. "Since foot-and-mouth could have such devastating
economic impacts on agriculture and tourism here in the Garden State,
it's important that we get a plan in place that will enable us to
act within a matter of hours to contain the disease, should a case
be diagnosed in New Jersey or in a neighboring state." Task force
members include USDA representatives, a number of state agencies
and private sector organizations with an agricultural base. Mullaney
discussed how the current outbreak of the disease in the United Kingdom
and the European Union is believed to have started and the symptoms
New Jersey veterinarians and farmers have been alerted to watch for
in cloven-hooved animals. Negron discussed the precautions that USDA
has in place at entry points for travelers from foot-and-mouth infected
countries and demonstrated some of the safety checks travelers may
routinely experience, including a quick once over by one of USDA's
Beagle Brigade, dogs trained to sniff out prohibited meat products
and other contraband items. The total value of the Garden State's
48,000 cattle and calves, including 16,000 dairy animals, was just
over $44.6 million as of January 1,2000. Cash receipts generated
by cattle sales was more than $7.8 million while dairy products brought
in an additional $42.1 million. At the end of 1999, the state's 15,000
hogs and pigs were worth nearly $1.3 million and generated cash receipts
of $639,000. The state's 12,000 sheep and lambs generated cash receipts
of almost $1.3 million and were worth about $1.2 million.
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