Veterinary Assoc. Welcomes NZ's BSE Classification

Veterinary Association welcomes New Zealand's BSE classification

The Veterinary Association is pleased the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has granted New Zealand the most favourable category for its BSE risk status, says NZVA vice president, Dr Richard Wild.

"This is a tribute to the work of Biosecurity New Zealand staff and others, who have lobbied hard to convince authorities around the world of something we ourselves know well; that New Zealand is free of BSE. The status ensures exported products from our livestock will not face unnecessary overseas trade bans on the basis of BSE risk," he says.

New Zealand has never had a case of BSE, the brain-wasting disease of adult cattle that is popularly known as 'mad cow disease'. The Ministry of Agriculture has conducted surveillance and testing of animals with nervous signs to assemble the evidence which confirms freedom from the disease.

Veterinarians and their farmer clients played an active role by identifying potential cases and collecting samples.  The results formed an important part of the evidence MAF presented to the international authorities at OIE.

"Decisions like this reinforce the importance to our agricultural industry of having a reputable veterinary service that is recognised internationally as competent and credible. We need to be sure we reward and maintain this capability, and that we train and retain the veterinary workforce to continue it," says Dr Wild.

BSE is one of a large number of zoonotic diseases – diseases that can cross from animals to humans. Most emerging infectious diseases that have affected humans in recent years have been zoonotic diseases and this is an area of public health in which veterinarians play a crucial role.

Veterinarians are trained in population medicine and bring a multi-species comparative medical approach to disease prevention and control.

"This training gives veterinarians the broad view needed to deal with infectious disease agents that cross species," says Dr Wild.

"Control of diseases that pass from animals to humans, whatever their impact, requires a strong capability in veterinary public health and related disciplines."

New Zealand has a network of skilled veterinarians working at the frontline of infectious disease control in MAF's Biosecurity New Zealand, the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, Massey University, AgResearch, AgriQuality and in clinical practice and diagnostic laboratories.

ENDS

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