Posted for Jerry Fruth.

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MEMORANDUM
To: AHC Organizations
From: American Horse Council
Re: National Livestock Identification System
Date: May 13, 2004

Attached is a summary of the presentation on Equine Identification at
the AHC's National Issues Forum in Washington, DC.

This is an important issue to the horse industry and one that will have
broad implications and affect all sectors. It is important that our
individual members and member organizations understand the issues and
implications of setting up such a national identification system.

We hope that the attached will be helpful to that understanding.

American Horse Council Hosts Forum on Equine Identification

Members of the U.S. horse industry gathered for a day-long forum at the
American Horse Council's annual convention in Washington, DC to hear an
update on the national standardized identification system for horses.

Neil Hammerschmidt, the Animal Identification Coordinator for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Veterinary Services, launched the program
with an in-depth review of the U. S. Animal Identification Plan (USAIP).
"This is a plan that was developed by the livestock industry for the
livestock industry and has been submitted to USDA only as a
recommendation," said Mr. Hammerschmidt.

"Maintaining the health of the U.S. herd is the most urgent issue for
the industry and animal health officials to address, and, therefore, is
the most significant focus of the U.S. Animal Identification Plan," he
said. The goal is to establish a system by which a diseased animal can
be quickly traced back to the source of its infection, aiding in the
ability to contain, control and eradicate a disease. "USDA's
involvement in the USAIP is strictly from an animal health perspective.
The sooner we can identify the source of a disease outbreak and locate
sick and exposed animals, the sooner we can stop the disease in its
tracks and the sooner every one can get back into business," said Mr.
Hammerschmidt.

"While the USDA supports the establishment of a national system of
livestock identification, it does not seek to make such a program
mandatory at this time," Mr. Hammerschmidt continued, suggesting that
unless the industry buys into a program, it won't be successful.

Mr. Hammerschmidt acknowledged some areas need more focus, particularly
the development and implementation of the premises identification
component of the plan. Premises identification is essential because
trace back of diseased animals cannot work unless it can be determined
where an animal has been. The information needed is the premises
identification number, the location of the animal and the date/time
stamp (when was the animal sighted or when it moved on or off a
property).

Mr. Hammerschmidt also acknowledged that database security and privacy
is critical if any plan is to be successful. USDA considers this a
priority and is working to ensure that any information stored in
databases will be exempt from Freedom of Information Act requirements
(FOIA). This a concern at the state level also because each state has
open records requirements as well.

Col. John Hoffman, Program Manager, Food & Agriculture, U.S. Department
of Homeland Security, described the new Agency and how border inspection
and other activities of USDA now fit within it. The Plant Protection
and Quarantine Service (PPQ), a former agency of the USDA that was
responsible for checking passengers entering the U.S. for illegal
agricultural products, has been moved to the new Department.

Colonel Hoffman agreed that a national identification and tracking
system is important in the management of disease outbreaks. "An
identification and tracking system is needed," he said, "and the horse
industry is essential to this. When this meeting is over all of you in
this room will disperse to your various places in the country and few of
you will go to the same place. That's the way the horse industry is.
Horses gather for a show, or a race, and then disperse. Every horse
goes to a different place. This makes the need for a good tracking
system for the horse industry important," he said.

Col. Hoffman also addressed what he called the "common misconception"
that horse diseases are unimportant and do not affect human health.
"Until the 1980's, the Soviet Union continued to produce in its
bio-weapons program a disease agent taken from horses but lethal to
humans too."

Col. Hoffman also addressed the privacy issue, agreeing that access to
database information by "nonessential parties" would be barred. As a
designated "critical infrastructure," any agriculture information
related to the activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be
exempt from FOIA requirements, he suggested.

Dr. Peter Timoney, Director of the Gluck Equine Research Center and
Chairman of the Veterinary Sciences Department at the University of
Kentucky, followed Col. Hoffman's presentation with an excellent review
of equine diseases. He explained that West Nile Fever, Easter and
Western Equine Encephalomyelitis, and Venezuelan Equine
Encephalomyelitis that present not only a public health concern but also
affect a multitude of species.

Dr. Timoney highlighted the many equine diseases that can affect other
livestock. Vesicular Stomatitis, Samonellosis, and Leptospirosis are a
few examples. "As a responsible member of the livestock community we
would be remiss if we didn't recognize the importance of participating
in a program that would help determine the source of a disease, contain
it and control it," Dr. Timoney said, referring to the horse industry's
participation in a plan to standardize livestock identification and
establish a system for disease trace back.

Dr. Maxwell "Mack" Lea, Louisiana State Veterinarian, presented the view
of the states regarding the implementation of a national livestock
identification plan. He described how Louisiana and other states
currently handle livestock and premises identification, pointing out
that Louisiana is the first state in the U.S. to have a mandatory
identification program for horses.

The Louisiana program is linked to the state's Equine Infectious Anemia
program and requires that all horses be tested for EIA each year and be
permanently identified, either through brand, freeze brand, tattoo or
microchip, he said. The state provides the chips at cost plus fifty
cents.

"Identification programs in livestock for disease-related reasons is
common in most livestock except in the equine industry," said Dr. Lea.
"But there are lots of reasons to require identification when addressing
a disease concern. The biggest problem is that diagrammatic
identification is usually inadequate and lacks consistency. Brands,
although not always individual, help greatly in finding the correct
animal."

Louisiana's mandatory identification program aids in the legal pursuit
of those who try to circumvent the state's regulations regarding EIA
testing. "Not all horses are being tested as they are suppose to be but
its getting easy to track down those who haven't tested, " said Dr. Lea.
"Its even help law enforcement officials track down horses in cases of
theft."

Dr. Mary Giddens of the Dutch Warmblood Stud Book in North America
described the international approach to equine identification, providing
an excellent assessment of where many other countries are in identifying
their horses. Dr. Gidden's presentation was provided through Dr. Teresa
Dohms of the German Equestrian Federation.

"Many countries are moving toward mandatory identification but not all
are there yet. However, the move in European Countries is to adopt the
Unique Equine Lifetime Number," said Dr. Giddens. "Similar to the U.S.
Animal Identification number in that it is a 15 digit ISO-compliant
number, with the first three digits representing the country of birth,
but with the UELN, the next three digits indicate the breed and the
remaining nine numbers can be used as the pedigree registration number."


According to Dr. Giddens, most countries appear to be moving toward
microchipping, although not all countries require it at this time.
"Some countries such as the Netherlands, have outlawed hot iron branding
so other forms of identification are needed and microchipping is the
most logical," said Dr. Giddens. "Breed registries, such as the Friesan
Horse Registry, require chipping, because its not easy to tell Friesan
horses apart from each other: they are all black and without markings."


Vel Evens, consultant to Equine Canada, gave the convention attendees an
update on Equine Canada's plan to identify Canadian horses, which will
become mandatory for Canadian horses in 2006. "Our industry is in a
similar place as yours is," said Ms. Evans. "We've made some decisions,
such as the decision to go forward with use of the UELN, but many other
things still need to be worked out."

The day wrapped up with a report from Dan Fick of The Jockey Club and
Chairman of the AHC's National Equine Identification Task Force, who
announced that the task force has now been designated as the Species
Working Group for Equine, under the USAIP. Mr. Fick reviewed the
numerous questions still facing the horse industry about a standardized
identification plan.

"We have a lot of work to do yet, but we've done a lot also. The
consensus is that there are benefits to a national identification plans
for horses and that as a member of the U.S. livestock industry we have a
responsibility to participate in the livestock identification program,"
said Mr. Fick. "There are lots of questions to be answered but the one
we've been able to answer is that there are important benefits for the
horse industry in participating."


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