The United States is now in its fourth year of dealing with a persistent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Despite changes in leadership at top agricultural and public health agencies, the government continues to cull millions of birds in an effort to contain the disease.
A senior official, speaking to The Epoch Times, explained that culling remains the best option available at this time.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) refers to this strategy as “stamping out.”
Avian influenza, or bird flu, was first identified in China in the 1990s and has since spread globally through migratory wild birds.
The disease first affected the United States in late 2014, and the stamping out strategy successfully halted the outbreak within a year.
During the 2014 outbreak, 70 percent of bird flu cases were spread from farm to farm, according to USDA data.
Carol Cardona, a leading expert on avian influenza, noted that the U.S. egg industry has improved biosecurity measures to reduce farm-to-farm transmission.
Cardona, a professor at the University of Minnesota, mentioned that the disease has evolved since 2015 and is now being spread to farms by wild birds or potentially by mammals carrying the virus into poultry facilities.
She indicated that the disease is moving towards becoming endemic among wild birds.
The USDA’s culling efforts have resulted in the loss of at least 166 million birds since the outbreak began in February 2022, according to USDA figures released in March.
The significant culling and its impact on egg supply, without a corresponding drop in infections, have drawn criticism of the culling strategy.
Dr. Robert Malone, a vaccine pioneer critical of U.S. public health approaches, concurred with Cardona’s assessment that the disease is becoming endemic.
He argued that the culling approach is now ineffective and is unnecessarily raising egg prices, contributing to inflation concerns.
Reasons for Continuing Culling
The high cost of eggs, coupled with rising living expenses, has prompted action in Washington.
President Donald Trump has instructed the USDA to take steps to lower egg prices swiftly.
In a speech to Congress on March 4, Trump blamed his predecessor for the egg price surge and directed his Agriculture Secretary to address the issue.
There is increasing pressure from the White House to halt or reduce culling.
In a CBS interview on Feb. 16, Kevin Hassett from the National Economic Council criticized the indiscriminate culling of chickens and called for alternative strategies.
Malone suggested allowing the disease to run its course in poultry houses and breeding surviving birds with immunity or exploring heritage breeds that show resistance to bird flu as long-term solutions.
A senior USDA official stated that the agency is open to new approaches but has not yet found a viable alternative to culling.
In 2012, the American College of Veterinary Pathologists concluded that the disease’s H5 and H7 subtypes “cause severe, systemic disease in chickens with nearly 100 percent mortality.”
The senior USDA official stated that there is little evidence to suggest that any alternative to culling will keep the birds alive. Previous attempts to isolate healthy birds from sick ones have resulted in the healthy ones becoming infected and dying as well.
Developing herd immunity in a field setting is considered extremely risky by the USDA, as it could lead to uncontrolled bird flu spreading to other birds and potentially mutating to affect other animals, including humans. The USDA recommends breeders to develop more resistant strains in a controlled laboratory setting to prevent the spread of the virus.
Indemnity payments are mandatory once a farm is infected with bird flu, according to the Animal Health Protection Act. The Act grants the Secretary of Agriculture the power to order the destruction of sick animals and to compensate their owners at fair market value.
Farmers who do not cull their birds after detecting bird flu are not entitled to receive indemnity payments from the government. The USDA has increased the amount of money available for indemnities and is exploring new programs to speed up recovery.
Enhancing farm biosecurity is crucial in the USDA’s new playbook for bird flu control. The agency plans to dedicate up to $500 million for biosecurity measures for all U.S. poultry producers. Vaccination may be necessary once the disease becomes endemic, but it could raise international trade issues and public health questions.
The decision to vaccinate could have serious consequences for the chicken meat industry, with potential closures of export markets over concerns about the disease spreading from vaccinated birds. Please rephrase this sentence.
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