Chronic Wasting Disease Transmission in Cervidae Study Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 837 To authorize a special resource study on the spread vectors of chronic wasting disease in Cervidae, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 29, 2019 Mr. ABRAHAM (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. EMMER, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana, Mr. KELLY of Mis- sissippi, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. KING of Iowa, and Mr. DUFFY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To authorize a special resource study on the spread vectors of chronic wasting disease in Cervidae, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chronic Wasting Dis- 4 ease Transmission in Cervidae Study Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Feb 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H837.IH H837 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 837 IH (1) Chronic wasting disease continues to spread 1 in wild, free-ranging cervid herds and in captive 2 cervid herds across the United States and Canada, 3 and as of December 2018, is in 26 States and three 4 Canadian provinces. 5 (2) From December 2017 to December 2018 6 alone, the disease was detected for the first time in 7 free-ranging cervid herds in Mississippi, Montana, 8 and Tennessee, and there were new positive detec- 9 tions of the disease in 13 captive cervid herds from 10 Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 11 Wisconsin and Quebec, Canada. 12 (3) Six of such herds are being monitored by 13 the National Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certifi- 14 cation Program of the Animal and Plant Health In- 15 spection Service, and therefore are considered to be 16 at low-risk for chronic wasting disease. 17 (4) From June 2017 to September 2018, 10 18 States, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Min- 19 nesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, West Virginia, 20 Wisconsin, and Wyoming, are already fighting to 21 control the transmission and spread of chronic wast- 22 ing disease and found positive detections for the dis- 23 ease in additional wild, free-ranging cervid herds. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Feb 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H837.IH H837 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 837 IH (5) New positive detections in captive cervid 1 herds were found in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, 2 Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 3 (6) There is no known cure for chronic wasting 4 disease, no reliable live animal test to detect the dis- 5 ease, and only a post-mortem test that provides 6 some measure of reliable detection of the disease. 7 (7) Chronic wasting disease is 100 percent fatal 8 and is arguably the most important disease threat- 9 ening North American cervid resources. 10 (8) The spread of chronic wasting disease con- 11 tinues to increasingly and adversely affect the eco- 12 nomic well-being of rural communities, the hunting 13 public, farmed cervid producers, and State wildlife 14 and agricultural agencies, because the only known 15 measure for reducing the spread of chronic wasting 16 disease is the complete depopulation of herds that 17 test positive for the disease, a drastic measure which 18 comes with great costs for all. 19 (9) The long-term environmental persistence of 20 chronic wasting disease’s causative agent means that 21 State wildlife management agencies, State depart- 22 ments of agriculture, and private cervid farmers 23 have relatively few options to mitigate the effects of 24 such disease. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Feb 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H837.IH H837 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 837 IH (10) There are ongoing debates about the pre- 1 dominant transmission pathways that are causing 2 the new detections and continued spread of chronic 3 wasting disease in cervids across the United States 4 and Canada. 5 SEC. 3. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE TRANSMISSION IN 6 CERVIDAE RESOURCE STUDY. 7 (a) STUDY.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall enter 9 into an arrangement with the Academy under which 10 the Academy shall conduct, and submit to the Secre- 11 taries a report— 12 (A) describing the findings of, a special re- 13 source study to identify the predominant path- 14 ways and mechanisms of the transmission of 15 chronic wasting disease in wild, captive, and 16 farmed populations of cervids in the United 17 States; and 18 (B) which may include the potential im- 19 pacts on the disease from transmissions from 20 Canada. 21 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The arrangement under 22 paragraph (1) shall provide that the actual expenses 23 incurred by the Academy in conducting the study 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Feb 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H837.IH H837 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 837 IH under paragraph (1) shall be paid by the Secre- 1 taries. 2 (b) CONTENTS OF THE STUDY.—Within and between 3 wild, captive, and farmed cervid populations, the study— 4 (1) may include, to the extent the United States 5 is affected on a continental scale, the potential im- 6 pacts on the disease from transmissions from Can- 7 ada; and 8 (2) shall— 9 (A) identify— 10 (i) the pathways and mechanisms for 11 the transmission of chronic wasting disease 12 in cervids and cervid products; 13 (ii) the dosage and infection rates for 14 each such pathway and mechanism; and 15 (iii) the relative frequency of each 16 mode of such transmission; 17 (B) identify anthropogenic and environ- 18 mental factors contributing to new chronic 19 wasting disease emergence events, the develop- 20 ment of geographic areas with increased chronic 21 wasting disease prevalence, and overall geo- 22 graphic patterns of chronic wasting disease dis- 23 tribution; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:45 Feb 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H837.IH H837 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 837 IH (C) identify significant gaps in current sci- 1 entific knowledge regarding the transmission 2 pathways identified under subparagraph (A); 3 (D) identify and prioritize scientific re- 4 search projects that will address the knowledge 5 gaps referred to in subparagraph (C); and 6 (E) review science-based best practices, 7 standards, and guidance regarding the manage- 8 ment of chronic wasting disease in wild, captive, 9 and farmed cervid populations in the United 10 States which have been developed by— 11 (i) the National Chronic Wasting Dis- 12 ease Herd Certification Program of the 13 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Serv- 14 ice; 15 (ii) the United States Geological Sur- 16 vey; and 17 (iii) State wildlife and agricultural 18 agencies, which provide practical, science- 19 based recommendations to State and Fed- 20 eral agencies for minimizing or eliminating 21 the risk of transmission of chronic wasting 22 disease in the United States. 23 (c) DEADLINE.—Not later than 6 months after the 24 date on which funds are first made available for the study 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Feb 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H837.IH H837 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 837 IH under subsection (a), the Secretaries shall submit to the 1 Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representa- 2 tives, the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 3 of Representatives, the Committee on Environment and 4 Public Works of the Senate, and the Committee on Agri- 5 culture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report 6 that describes— 7 (1) the findings of the study; and 8 (2) any conclusions and recommendations that 9 the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 10 (d) DATA SHARING.—The Secretaries shall share 11 with the entity conducting the study under subsection (a) 12 data and access to databases on chronic wasting disease 13 under the jurisdiction of— 14 (1) the Veterinary Services Program of the Ani- 15 mal and Plant Health Inspection Service; and 16 (2) the United States Geological Survey. 17 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 18 In this Act: 19 (1) CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.—The term 20 ‘‘chronic wasting disease’’ means the animal disease 21 afflicting deer, elk, reindeer, and moose populations 22 that— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Feb 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H837.IH H837 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 837 IH (A) is a transmissible disease of the nerv- 1 ous system resulting in distinctive lesions in the 2 brain; and 3 (B) belongs to the group of diseases known 4 as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, 5 which group includes scrapie, bovine spongiform 6 encephalopathy, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. 7 (2) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 8 means— 9 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 10 through the Administrator of the Animal and 11 Plant Health Inspection Service; and 12 (B) the Secretary of the Interior, acting 13 through the Director of the United States Geo- 14 logical Survey. 15 (3) ACADEMY.—The term ‘‘Academy’’ means 16 the National Academy of Sciences. 17 (4) CERVID.—The term ‘‘cervid’’ means any 18 species within the family Cervidae. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:19 Feb 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H837.IH H837 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS