One indication that Americans are taking the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) more seriously? In Thursday's Fencepost, a press release appeared from U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., office, announcing the reintroduction of bipartisan legislation, the Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission in Cervidae Study Act.
In St. Paul, members of the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resource Finance Division heard University of Minnesota researchers discuss their research and search for a quick test for the disease. Session Daily's Erin Martin reports in Researchers seeking fast, accurate test to halt spread of chronic wasting disease:
Experts stressed the need Thursday for a fast, accurate and inexpensive test that can be deployed throughout the state in response to the emerging chronic wasting disease crisis.
Their testimony, during an informational hearing before the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division, came on the heels of a request for $1.8 million to fund test development. Division leaders asked for a more comprehensive explanation of the disease and research efforts.
Chronic wasting disease is a prion spread neurological disease that causes deterioration of the brain, and with it the loss of motor control and eventually death.
While there are no known cases of the disease being transmitted to humans, the Centers for Disease Control recommends against consumption of infected venison. Recent and ongoing studies have indicated it may be possible for the disease to cross over into humans.
Current testing is time consuming, complicated and relatively expensive.
Researchers hope to work across areas of expertise to develop a test that can be used on live or dead animals; can be conducted anywhere at any time; and will supply accurate results within minutes to a few hours.
The prion is limited in its geographic distribution, so we can’t let cervid farming continue to spread it and let the responsibility fall where it may. And that has been the responsible party that has brought us the problem and spread it widely in North America,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. “… What’s happened has happened, but it doesn’t have to be tomorrow, so let’s keep this limited to the locations it is [in] right now.
“We are having discussions right now with the CDC, [National Institutes of Health] and others about how they have to elevate the critical nature of this situation and make it clear that this is a very critical, time sensitive public health issue.”
The presence of the disease in deer farms contains an element of opportunity, according to University of Minnesota professor Peter Larsen. Studying transmission in the wild is deeply complicated, while farmed deer would allow researches a more controlled access for study.
The test the researchers are confident they can develop within two years would allow the University’s College of Veterinary Medicine to work more effectively with the Department of Natural Resources and Board of Animal Health as they seek to contain the disease. It would also help lay the groundwork for better understanding variables such as persistence in the environment of the disease, exposure levels, and eventually, effective treatment, cure, or eradication of the disease.
Read the rest at Session Daily. In the Pioneer Press, Dave Orrick has more in Experts: Yes, chronic wasting disease in deer is a public health issue — for people:
There is growing concern in the scientific and public health community that chronic wasting disease, which is killing deer in Minnesota, Wisconsin and elsewhere, could jump to people someday.
That unsettling news surfaced at a hearing Thursday at the Minnesota Capitol, where a number of experts from the University of Minnesota pressed upon lawmakers that the disease should be treated as a public health issue — a major expansion of its current scope as mostly a wildlife and hunting concern.
The issue is especially pressing for Minnesota, where wildlife officials are tracking the state’s largest outbreak of CWD yet in deer in the southeast portion of the state.
No person is known to have gotten sick from eating or handling a CWD-infected deer.
But scientists have always been wary of it because the disease is spread via extremely hardy protein cells, known as prions, making it similar to mad cow disease, which did jump from cows to people.
Read the rest at the Pioneer Press, if you dare.
Here's video of the hearing:
Last session, with the Republicans in control, outdoorswoman and Roseville Jamie Becker-Finn requested inquiry into CWD issues numerous times in the House Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee, only to be rebuffed.
Elections have consequences. One consequence is that with Rick Hansen chairing the reconfigured committee, Becker-Finn's voice is heard--and not a moment too soon.
We started this post with a mention of federal legislation. Here are the co-sponsors, including most senators from the Upper Midwest, regardless of party:
Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., John Boozman, R-Ark., Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., Susan Collins, R-Maine, John Cornyn, R-Texas, Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., Michael Enzi. R-Wyo., Cory Gardner, R-Colo., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., John Hoeven, R-N.D., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Angus King, I-Maine, Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Gary Peters, D-Mich., Tina Smith, D-Minn., John Thune, R-S.D., Tom Udall, D-N.M., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., cosponsored the legislation. U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham. R-La., also introduced a bipartisan companion bill in the House of Representatives today.
Groups that support the bill include: Association for Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Muley Fanatics Foundation, Boone and Crockett Club, the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, The Wilderness Society, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the Wild Sheep Foundation, the National Wildlife Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and others.
Photo: Trevor Ames, dean of the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and Michael Osterholm, director of the university’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, testify Feb. 7. Photo by Andrew VonBank via Session Daily.
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