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1 

 Priorities for Agriculture Research and Extension at USDA 



Statement of the American Veterinary Medical Association and the 

 Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges 



March 25, 1993 



Mr. Chairman and Members of the Department Operations and Nutrition Subcommittee: 



Veterinarians are uniquely poised to assist both the Congress and the U.S. IDepartment 

 of Agriculture in setting research priorities on animal health, disease and other disciplines related 

 to agriculture and public health. As clinicians, every day we take basic science and transform 

 it into practical application on the farm, in the laboratory, in private corporations, in non-profit 

 organizations, and in our hospitals, clinics and university facilities. We view ourselves as 

 facilitators and implementors of animal research information transfer. 



The profession bridges the public and private sectors through enthusiastic business and 

 entrepreneurial spirit, meeting matching funds with corporate grants, and seeding private and 

 industrially cosponsored projects, to promote the creation of new research ideas, products and 

 technologies. For example, one school of veterinary medicine is engaged in a major research 

 partnership with private industry to develop a new class of compounds that stimulates animal 

 immune systems and aids in wound healing. 



In another project, the pet food industry funded a nutritional research project on cats. 

 Veterinary researchers were able to make a crucial determination that taurine deficiencies in pet 

 food formulations could lead to a triad of disease syndromes, including heart disease 

 (cardiomyopathy), reproductive failures and blindness. Once this discovery was made, the 

 researchers made simple nutritional formula suggestions to the manufacturers of commercial pet 

 foods, thus leading to a quick and effective solution to a complex problem for pet owners, the 

 veterinary profession and the pet food industry. 



The dairy industry has been concerned about the increasing incidence of coliform 

 mastitis. To address this, a state milk advisory board entertained proposals for control methods 

 for this form of mastitis, awarding a veterinary faculty member funding to address vaccine 

 research on a mutant form of E. coli J-5. The vaccine developed has proved very successful, 

 and the faculty member is now working to help identify a vaccine company to prepare vaccines 

 for national and international industry use. In that state alone, the vaccine is saving the dairy 

 industry over $11 million annually. 



