Senators Levin, Stabenow Seek Greater Authority for USDA to Fight Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia

September 12, 2007, WASHINGTON – Determined to prevent viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), a deadly fish disease, from spreading in the Great Lakes, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., joined eight of their colleagues in a bipartisan letter to the Senate Agriculture Committee asking them to include authority in the upcoming 2007 farm bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide assistance to states for monitoring, testing, controlling and enforcement efforts.

“The Great Lakes face a number of ongoing challenges, one of which is viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a very serious invasive species,” Levin said. “We don’t have a minute to spare when it comes to fighting this virus. One way to combat VHS is to require the USDA to help states in managing, researching and monitoring VHS.”

“Viral hemorrhagic septicemia is a very serious danger to the health and population of numerous species in the Great Lakes,” said Stabenow, “As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I will work with my colleagues to get this very important language included into the Farm Bill. I thank the other members of the Great Lakes Task Force for taking up this important cause.” The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture primarily responsible for efforts to combat the spread of viral hemorrhagic septicemia, issued an order in October 2006 to stop the interstate movement of more than three dozen species of fish susceptible to VHS. However, enforcing this order has fallen on the states, and the Great Lakes states do not possess sufficient monetary resources to carry out this order.

The senators want to add legislative language to the 2007 farm bill to authorize the Department of Agriculture to provide financial assistance for states to address several aspects of preventing viral hemorrhagic septicemia including:

* Monitoring to determine where the disease is located and how it is spreading;
* Testing fish to see whether they are infected so that VHS-free fish can be shipped between and outside the eight Great Lakes states;
* Managing VHS through any possible control methods; and
* Enforcing the APHIS order restricting the movement of live fish that are susceptible to VHS.

The letter, initiated by the Great Lakes Task Force which Levin co-chairs, was sent to Senators Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Saxby Chambliss, R-Tex., chairman and ranking member respectively, of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The committee is considering the 2007 farm bill and is expected to report a bill to the full Senate this fall.

Source: Senate

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