Ryan Urges Agriculture Secretary to Reconsider Decision on CWD Testing

JANESVILLE – U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) today along with the rest of the Wisconsin congressional delegation sent a letter to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ann Veneman, urging her to reconsider a recent decision not to allow private labs to conduct testing for chronic wasting disease (CWD) this fall.

"If hunters don’t know their deer are safe, they won’t hunt, and that will make the problem worse," Ryan said. "We’ve got to work to test as many deer as possible this fall, and hunters need to be able to count on the accuracy of those tests."

A copy of the text of the letter to Secretary Veneman follows this release.

July 2, 2002

The Honorable Ann Veneman
Secretary
U.S. Department of Agriculture
14th Street & Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20250

Dear Secretary Veneman:

We write to you today concerned about your recent decision not to allow private labs to conduct testing for chronic wasting disease (CWD) this fall. We certainly hope you will reconsider this decision.

 

This fall, Wisconsin hunters will most likely bag close to 400,000 deer. Given the awareness and concerns that have arisen over the discovery of CWD, it is understandable that many deer hunters in Wisconsin will want to have their deer tested this fall. We were pleased to learn last week that the United States Department of Agriculture intends to increase the number of certified federal, state and university CWD testing facilities from six to eleven labs by this fall, with a goal of fifteen labs by January 2003. We believe that, in taking this action, the Department should not overlook private laboratories that may now be able to conduct CWD tests or be upgraded to do so.

We respectfully urge you to make increasing testing capacity for this fall's hunt a top priority for your department. While we recognize that there are limited government resources available for this fall, we request that you make a protocol for the conduct of a certified test available to private entities. Further, we urge USDA to expand its ability to validate tests by existing state, university and other labs in the field known to be experienced, accurate and respectable. In addition, USDA should also enhance its ability to evaluate efforts by other existing or new labs to bring additional testing capacity on line.

We anticipate that constituent demand for testing will be considerable, both within and outside of the CWD endemic area. Hunters deserve to know that their test results come from certified scientific testing.

Finally, we understand the importance of assuring the accuracy of test results. We believe that there must be reasonable ways to go about expanding testing capacity while maintaining both testing quality and accuracy.

Again, we are hoping that you will reconsider this decision and work with us to extend testing capacity. We look forward to hearing back from you shortly.

Best Regards,

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