New York State Conservation Council, Inc.New York State Conservation Council, Inc.
Testimony of Wally John on behalf of the New York State Conservation Council, Inc
Made at the Emerging Food Related Diseases Public Hearing March 29th, 2001
Good morning, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz and other members of the New York State Assembly Task Force on Food Farm and Nutrition Policy. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the issue of wild game and its relationship to human nutrition and safety. Of particular concern to the New York State Conservation Council are the assumptions and implications of Question Number 8 on your list of selected issues to be addressed by this hearing: "Should the State warn hunters about the safety of handling and eating deer meat? Should the donation of deer meat to emergency food programs be allowed to continue?"
This issue is of critical importance to the 900,000 big game hunters who purchase and use a hunting license each fall in all areas of New York State, excluding New York City and Nassau County (where hunting is prohibited), because the question implies strongly that such a public health threat exists, when it does not! At present and in the past, there has not been any documented concern by any public health or environmental agency in this state or the nation that New York's whitetail deer are a food hazard, either to hunters or to the recipients of donated meat.
There are potential threats to the State's food supply from Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), commonly called "Mad Cow Disease" from farmed animal meats which must be guarded against and deserve investigation. Facts and scientific research should guide our actions in relation to how we treat the prion-related disease, because we really do know very little about the formation of prions, how they react with healthy cells, how they are transmitted, and how they may be controlled.
It is possible to look at the existing reports of BSE and other forms of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in animals and draw some conclusions about what actions should be considered.
1. BSE and CWD have been and continue to be confirmed in farm animals in Europe, Canada, and some other states.
2. Other highly contagious diseases also continue to be confirmed in farm animals, including "Hoof and Mouth Disease" in Europe, T.B., Brucellosis, Blue Tongue, Johnnes Disease, and Anthrax.
3. Farmed deer and elk can contract T.B., and there have been cases in New York State in the past.
4. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has the authority, under existing law, to confine and destroy any farmed animal, including but not limited to sheep, cows, pigs, poultry, and farmed deer and elk, that present a public health threat or a threat to other animals.
5. The food supply that is consumed in New York State is worldwide in origin, and the State alone cannot completely control disease threats due to interstate and international marketing of food.
6. Other forms of food-borne disease, such as Sammenella, E. Coli., and Lysteria, are a greater threat to human health and life, simply due to the ease of spread and frequency of occurrence.
That said, we should examine some of the actual cases as reported and investigated and as they relate to CWD or BSE. Canadian health inspectors confirmed one case of CWD which killed a farmed elk in a Saskatchewan game farm in 2000 and that same farm had another elk die in 1998 of CWD. All high-risk animals were destroyed in 1998. The farm animals in 2000 were under quarantine, and no other elk have shown any symptoms. Further research indicates only one case in 1996 of CWD in farmed elk in Sedley, Canada, and in that case, the entire herd was destroyed by the Canadian Government. Those elk had been imported from a game farm in the United State and had been in Canada for seven years before they died.
In June of 2000, Montana wildlife and livestock officials destroyed more than thirty elk at the Elk Valley Game Farm, near Harden, due to the discovery of CWD at an elk farm in nearby Philipburg, Montana. This site, the Kessler Game Farm, had an elk die of CWD in October 1999. Montana officials destroyed more than eighty elk at that farm. The thirty-plus farm elk destroyed at Elk Valley are currently being tested for CWD.
Montana wildlife officials killed wild elk and deer found outside the fence of the Kessler and Elk Valley Game Farms and tested them for CWD. None of the wild animals tested positive for CWD.
The Montana Legislature, in 2000, enacted a moratorium on new game farm applications, until a live animal test for CWD can be developed. This fact is important to note, because a significant number of game farms exist in New York State, and they generally import stock from out-of-state game farms. Also, no test exists for BSE or CWD that allows the animal to live. The head and brain must be removed from the suspect animal for examination to confirm CWD or BSE.
The State of Wyoming also tracks cases of CWD and other wildlife diseases, like Blue Tongue and Brucellosis. Their Department of Game and Fish actively use the pathology units' Sybille Field Station to evaluate wildlife samples. This unit is considered to be one of the best worldwide and is presently monitoring CWD in a small area of southeastern Wyoming. That state's system of deer and elk licensing by management unit allows them to control hunting efforts in the suspect area, and a mandatory check area permits them to inspect every animal taken in that area.
The area of suspected CWD in wild deer and elk is primarily located in Colorado, just south of Wyoming's area. This area, north of Fort Collins, has had a CWD problem for several years. In November 2000, the Colorado Wildlife Commission approved an experimental late season either-sex deer hunt in that area as part of a Department of Wildlife study on CWD. The hunt had a two-fold purpose. One was to reduce the deer herd by fifty percent, and the second was to provide samples for CWD testing. The hunt was conducted by Colorado hunters, who received written CWD information with their license. This information included hygiene handling instructions and notice of the requirement that the deer's head had to be submitted within five days to the Department of Wildlife. Hunters were then notified of the positive tests.
Colorado hunters and wildlife officials are working together to provide the scientific sample necessary to better understand the transmission of CWD in wild deer. This data will help determine if the fifteen- percent suspected disease rate is accurate and to also help define the boundary of the diseased herd.
Hunters are concerned with CWD, because laboratory experiments have shown prion transfer between diseased animal flesh and human proteins in a test tube. This fact does not indicate a theoretical risk to humans, but it is still not known how one animal can pass the prion to another.
Approximately fifteen million Americans Hunt and consume game, and this number is increasing in many states. If wildlife disease is a threat to human health, it will impact some of this hunting population; hunters have a right to the best information available. New York State has provided excellent information in this regard to people who fish, listing types of fish and water bodies that should be avoided due to chemical and industrial pollution. The Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health have the ability to communicate factually about actual and suspected health threats, as has been seen in the case of Lyme disease and rabies. Hunters have their own information network through newsletters, organizational notes, national magazines, and meetings. The word of the problem is communicated quickly throughout the State by this network.
In conclusion, the answer to Question 8 is that the State should continue to fund the Division of Fish and Wildlife at the highest possible levels, so that biologists and wildlife experts will be available to evaluate the health of our wildlife resources and deal with the potential of disease transmission from farmed animals to wild animals. The proposed license fee increase should be enacted this year, because hunters and other sportsmen want to pay their part in protecting the health and the viability of the State's wildlife. Additional funds should be made available to the State Veterinarian in the Department of Agriculture and Markets to monitor imported farm animals for CWD and BSE.
The deer donation program should be allowed to continue as long as poverty and hunger are present within New York State. Hunters stand ready and willing to assist the State, when and if a real food safety restriction is needed. Only if CWD becomes a major human health problem, should restrictions on deer meat donation be implemented. It is far more apt to become a problem from farmed animals than from wild animals, and no restrictions have been considered by this Task Force for farmed elk or deer.
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March 29, 2001 This page provided 04/03/01
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