Over $6,000 was raised for the AASV Foundation during the 2005 AASV Midwest Golf Outing. Remarking about the Aug. 24th event, Dr. Rodney Johnson, Foundation President said, “The money raised goes to the Foundation and then back to students and AASV members through the Foundation’s activities. It’s a win-win – a hole-in-one!”
Monthly Archives: August 2005
Secretary Johanns Conducts Briefing on NAIS
US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns conducted a technical briefing to update the media on the National Animal ID System (NAIS) on Tuesday August 30th. During this briefing, Sec. Johanns described the current principles guiding USDA’s direction regarding the NAIS. He acknowledged that “there are differing views on some pretty fundamental questions like whether data in the system should be publicly or privately held, how can we protect confidentiality of the data, and whether the data collection should be a voluntary system or a mandatory system.” He indicated that “animal movement data should be maintained in a private system that can be readily accessed when necessary by state and federal animal health authorities” which would ultimately be populated with data from the individual species-specific record-keeping systems.
ARS Develops Pig Gene Database
The USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS) has developed a database tool to support human nutrition and immunology studies. The “Porcine Immunology and Nutrition (PIN) Database” was developed by nutritionists at the ARS Human Nutrition Research Center and immunologists in the ARS Animal and Natural Resources Institute in Beltsville, MD.
Hurricane Katrina May Spread Soybean Rust
As Hurricane Katrina comes ashore along the southern coast, USDA Soybean Rust transport forecasters are concerned that it may carry spores as far west as southeast Missouri and as far north and east as eastern Canada and the U.S. Northeast. They predict that Soybean Rust spore dissemination will follow the storm’s path as it moves inland. Researchers indicate, however, that it takes several weeks of favorable disease weather to promote infection following spore deposition. Favorable weather is predicted for the eastern U.S. Tuesday and Wednesday, and then is gradually confined to northern New England, the state of Florida, and parts of southeastern Georgia on Thursday.
People on the Move: Dr. Jeff Kula
Dr. Jeff Kula has moved to Nebraska to accept a position with Pfizer Animal Health. Kula is now Pfizer’s Manager, Veterinary Medicine Research & Development – U.S. Clinical Health. Updated contact information for Dr. Kula may be found at http://www.aasv.org/members/only/directory.php. Are you on the move? If so, let us know at aasv@aasv.org.
PRRS regional eradication meeting to be held at Leman Conference
AASV and PRRS-CAP will be holding an informal meeting at the Leman Conference to discuss PRRS regional eradication. The objectives of this introductory meeting are as follows:
Streptococcus suis Expert Invited to China
Dr. Marcelo Gottschalk, who runs the Streptococcus suis Reference Laboratory at the University of Montreal, has been invited to visit China to research the recent outbreak of the disease which has been blamed for killing 40 people and hundreds of pigs. Dr. Gottschalk recently expressed concern that the disease appeared far more severe than normal and hadn’t exhibited the usual symptoms typically associated with the disease in humans (principally meningitis). He raised the possibility that the bacteria had merged with other strains resulting in a much more virulent disease.
Linda Tollefson Appointed Assistant Commissioner for Science at FDA
According to an August 23rd press release, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Lester Crawford has appointed Rear Admiral Linda Tollefson, DVM to the position of Assistant Commissioner for Science. Dr. Tollefson has been with FDA for 21 years, most recently serving as deputy director of FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (FDA-CVM). She has been actively involved in antimicrobial resistance issues and was instrumental in founding the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS). Her new duties will include serving as Coordinator of Commissioned Corps Affairs at FDA and directing FDA’s Offices of Women’s Health and Orphan Products Development.
Position Announcement, Swine Health Information and Research Director
The National Pork Board is currently searching for qualified candidates for the position of Director, Swine Health Information and Research. The successful candidate will be responsible for the development and dissemination of current information and educational materials on key swine health issues and the oversight and administration of the department’s swine health research responsibilities, including the Checkoff’s PRRS Initiative.
Smithfield Foods to Cease Slaughter at VA Plant
Smithfield Foods has announced that it will consolidate its East Coast processing operations from three plants to two by October 28, 2005. The Smithfield South Facility (formerly Smithfield Packing) in Smithfield, VA will be converted to value-added fresh pork and processed meats production in 2006. Conversion is expected to take four months and will not affect other operations at the plant. The consolidation will affect approximately 570 of the company’s 4000 employees in southeastern Virginia which the company hopes to rehire at one of its other facilities.