WASHINGTON, D.C. – A coalition of more than 40 farm groups have urged
the U.S. president and Congress to not undermine animal and plant
protection programs when creating a homeland security
department.
President George Bush has suggested legislation to create a new
170,000-employee cabinet agency dedicated to preventing terror attacks.
The new department will absorb dozens of federal agencies, including
the agriculture department’s animal and plant health inspection agency.
The agency, known as APHIS, is in charge of protecting United States
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agriculture from animal diseases and plant pests.
Many agriculture officials, especially at the state level, are worried
the new homeland security department would focus APHIS resources too
narrowly on preventing bioterrorism rather than on protecting
agriculture.
The coalition, formed shortly after Bush’s June 6 announcement, has
sent a seven-page document to both the White House and Congress listing
specific APHIS responsibilities it was concerned may be weakened under
a new department.
These include regulating new genetically modified crops, issuing farm
export certificates and efforts to eradicate agriculture diseases.
Some lawmakers, including senate agriculture committee chair Tom
Harkin, have also expressed concerns.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which formed the coalition
of animal and plant groups, said it wants to make sure the homeland
security department has a strong agriculture component.
“If APHIS is going to be that component, whether it be the entire
agency or just part of it, we want to make sure its historical role …
continues to be a seamless operation,” said Chandler Keys,
vice-president for the cattle group.
An industry official said the Bush administration has appreciated the
coalition’s concerns, but “there has been no assurances from the
administration or from Congress.”
The Biotechnology Industry Organization, a lobbying group, said it met
with the White House and was promised “the new department would not
create more problems.”
Leah Becker, associate director for the cattle group, said the
coalition is still mulling over what it will do next as Congress begins
debate on Bush’s proposal.
The group includes the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National
Association of State Departments of Agriculture and the National Corn
Growers Association.
Meanwhile, the nation’s largest animal rights group has joined the
growing chorus of opposition to the plan.
Wayne Pacelle, senior vice-president of the Humane Society, said moving
animal welfare programs to the new department “is an obvious misfit.”
“It is already difficult enough to get the USDA to adequately enforce
existing animal protection laws,” he said. “Moving these programs to
the department of homeland security would marginalize them even
further.”
Lawmakers are hurrying to pass legislation to create the new department
by the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.
