In a recent somewhat self-congratulatory press release, APHIS recounted successes and achievements over the past half-century. The second of the accomplishments as enumerated was, “eradicating serious animal diseases including highly pathogenic Avian Influenza”.  This is a somewhat premature claim of success given the events of the last two months and what may yet occur in the near future. Perhaps APHIS could be more concerned about the here-and-now than the past 50 years.

Despite the obvious sensitivity over HPAI it must be acknowledged that APHIS has scored a number of successes in eradicating plant and animal diseases and pests. We would be in a worse situation having accepted endemic catastrophic and erosive diseases. As an industry we should be grateful for the efforts of dedicated scientists, clinicians and workers and their administrators in protecting plant and animal health and productivity.