205 



The facilities within which we perform our agriculturally-related research range from 

 primate centers to extension field stations, from sophisticated diagnostic laboratories to 

 conservation centers at zoological parks. We are striving daily to turn our basic research not 

 only into practical applications, but to provide society and the nation as a whole with safe, 

 wholesome foods, effective and efficacious vaccines, comfortable and well-cared-for domestic 

 and wildlife animal species, high caliber diagnostic laboratories and laboratory tests for the 

 detection of animal disease and biohazards, and environmental health and maintenance through 

 our research on water quality, genetic engineering, conservation, and epidemiological expertise 

 during epidemics and natural emergencies. 



For example, many animal disease research programs, such as those on brucellosis and 

 tuberculosis, are heavily dependent on animal biocontainment facilities in which testing of new 

 vaccines occurs in animals challenged with virulent organisms. On average, a single 

 biocontainment facility for a single steer can cost nearly $500,000 to construct and about 

 $100,000 a year to maintain and operate. A lack of adequate biocontainment facilities across 

 the country can result in delays in critical experiments on nationally significant diseases. 

 Modem and adequately sized biocontainment facilities are necessary in order to safely move 

 scientific discoveries from the laboratory to the field and apply them effectively for the 

 improvement of animal agriculture. 



Primate centers are another example. Up to 3,500 nonhuman primates can be housed 

 at these centers, where veterinary faculty researchers carry out investigations on AIDS, 

 environmental toxicology, reproduction and other research of significance to public and animal 

 health. The average cost of maintaining such a facility is approximately $5. 1 million per year. 



Finally, the AAVMC and the AVMA would specifically like to address three issues 

 brought up at your Subcommittee's hearing on March 25, 1993: (1) How to best apply basic 

 research for public wants and needs; (2) How to address accountability, whether it be in relation 

 to peer-reviewed/merit-reviewed research or earmarked site-specific research; and (3) How to 

 balance competitive grant funding with formula-funded research. 



Dr. Savage stated in the question and answer session of the hearing that universities often 

 focus only on basic research, and pay mere lip-service to applied research. At veterinary 

 medical schools and colleges, clinicians and researchers work hand-in-hand, in the hospitals and 

 in the field to address basic research that will solve practical problems. We meet and greet the 

 public every day, gleaning detailed medical histories of our patients from their owners; then we 

 change hats, move to the laboratory and become or at least collaborate with the laboratory bench 

 scientists. 



Whether the issue is veterinarians investigating surgical procedures and materials 

 necessary for orthopedic hip replacement (both within veterinary and medical school ci^cities), 

 so that both animals and humans with severe a^ritis or osteoporotic lesions can live in comfort. 



