Chronic Wasting Disease Task Force

Public Meeting Minutes

July 29, 2003 - 2 p.m.

The Pavilion at Michigan State University

A public meeting of the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Task Force was held on July 29, 2003, at 2 p.m. at the Pavilion at Michigan State University.  Those Task Force Members present were:

Dr. Howard Tanner, Chair

Dr. William Taylor, Vice Chair

Dr. George Anderson

Dr. Rosina Bierbaum

Dr. Lonnie King

Also present were Ex-Officio members, staff to the Task Force, and the public.

Dr. Tanner asked Task Force members, Ex-Officio members, staff and members of the audience introduce themselves.  He then introduced Dr. Steve Schmitt, Veterinarian for the Department of Natural Resources, who in turn introduced Dr. Mike Miller, Veterinarian for the Wildlife Division for the State of Colorado. 

Dr. Miller started his presentation by stating if there was a single piece of advice that he felt was more important than any other advice he could give, it would be to keep CWD out of Michigan.  He said it was easier to prevent than eradicate after you get it.  Colorado was the first state to discover the disease and has been hard hit, both economically and in the wild.  He said although scrapie, mad cow disease and CWD were all in the same family, they are not the same disease, with different strains and behaviors.  The disease is also not a new disease, as it was recognized in the 60's and it wasn't until the mid-70's that it was confirmed as a TSE disease.  He gave a quick overview of the history of the disease, explaining that its hosts are mule deer, white-tailed deer and elk.  The disease is very subtle in the early stages and in the last three years, 12 states and two Canadian Provinces have discovered infected cervid.  He said the disease is in free-ranging cervid and farmed cervid. 

The most asked question that Dr. Miller hears is, "is CWD transmittable to humans."  He explained that a lot of research is being done and has been ongoing for over 20 years.  However, while there is a lack of understanding of the CWD biology, there is absolutely no evidence that the disease can be spread to humans. 

He explained that tests have been done to determine if the disease is transmittable to bovine and no evidence has been found that it is possible.  In one test, cows were fed orally with the disease and there was no sign of CWD after six years of testing.

In Dr. Miller's estimation, the motivation for management of the disease is the potential harm it could do to the cervid population for many years to come, both in the wild and private farms.  He said there are increasing infection rates and models predict a dramatic increase in the disease in the next 40-60 years.

He said surveillance is an important management tool, however, it is very expensive to test harvested deer because of the numbers.  He described Colorado's attempt to cull the deer and the public resistance.  He also discussed the funding issues involved in testing and monitoring and the difficulties associated with those tools.

Dr. Miller stated that he felt an important tool to eliminate clinical suspects was to enforce feeding prohibition.  He said it is also useful to cull specific subpopulations that have been diagnosed with CWD in the herd.  Preventing new introductions or movement in farms was also important.

Dr. Taylor asked if there was a natural immunity in some cervid and Dr. Miller said not to his knowledge, however, research is ongoing.  The deer don't even realize their bodies are under attack.  He said in the future, there may be some kind of preventive medicine but nothing has been discovered to date.

Dr. King asked Dr. Miller about public support in Colorado.  Dr. Miller said they had a very active campaign to inform the public, even before the mad cow disease issue erupted in England.  He said they work closely with their counterparts in state government and have several working groups.  The elk industry has been very pro-active and very aggressive.  They have spent a lot of their own money trying to deal with it.  He said in Colorado, in the private farms, most are elk,  and a few mule deer, however, they have not allowed white-tailed deer farms.

Dr. Schmitt asked Dr. Miller to comment on transmission through the fence and Dr. Miller said casual contact is probably not the primary way the disease gets transmitted, however, double fencing is a very important tool.  He said anything that can be done to minimize contact is helpful.  Dr. Miller did state that even with fencing and no animal movement between pens, that CWD did appear within adjacent pens of animals.

Dr. Tanner stated that as Chairman of the Task Force, and a former resident of Colorado, he takes CWD very seriously.  He asked how much exposure was necessary for transmission.  Dr. Miller said the more prolonged the exposure, the more likely the cervid is to get it.

When asked if the current ban on venison meat coming in from Canada was supported by science, Dr. Miller said he would defer to public health on consumption.  They have advised that people shouldn't consume tissues from animals with CWD and sheep that have scrapie, however, he would defer to the agency that put the ban in place.

When asked by a member of the audience if the elk herd in Colorado had increased over the years, Dr. Miller said the deer herd is stable.  In parts of the state where they have been trying to manage, they are down.  In other parts, they are up.  They have found, however, that the prevalence in elk has risen from 1 percent to 3.5 percent.

Dr. Miller was asked by a member of the audience if high deer densities, supplemental feeding, urine based scents, highest concentration of private cervid operations in Michigan would increase the timeline.  He said while the models don't address that, it would be his opinion that the epidemic curves would be steeper and infection rates would be higher in white-tailed deer than mule deer.  He said the white-tailed industry needed to be very careful about monitoring, inspection and movement to negate the risk factor.

Dr. Miller was also asked by a member of the audience about a farm that had been clean for several years and eventually, couldn't the farm be declared clean.  He said it depended on where they got their last animal and what that facility was like.  He said you can never be 100 percent certain but the longer you look, and unless you're doing something to introduce CWD, the more likelihood it would be safe.

Mr. Kenneth Keeley, Michigan Deer and Elk Marketing Program, presented comments for the record.

Mr. Eric Antisdale, a hunting ranch owner, said he wanted to give a short presentation today and then speak at a future meeting in greater detail.  He urged the Task Force to strongly take into consideration the science that exists and doesn't exist as they make decisions.  He said he is aware of political and public pressures and is worried that science will be waylaid by "junk science" giving the public an incorrect perception.  He urged the Task Force not to make the industry a scapegoat or to make decisions that are expedient when there is so little science known.

Mr. Dan Marsh, Executive Director of the Michigan Deer and Elk Farmers Association,  said he supported what Mr. Antisdale said and urged the Task Force to consider an appropriate scientific risk assessment.  He presented comments for the record.

Mr. Alex Draper, President, Michigan Deer and Elk Farmers Association, said when the TB outbreak happened, the industry took a very active role.  He said they are trying to be credible with standards and ethics, however, it is difficult when being told what to do with their own land and animals.  He presented comments for the record.

Mr. Brian Preston, Regional Organizer for the National Wildlife Federation, spoke about a State of Wisconsin report concerning audits of state deer farms.  Mr. Preston said that DNR wardens visited 550 white-tailed deer farms to collect information about farming, determine the origin of CWD-positive captive deer and to protect Wisconsin's wild deer herds inspecting the exterior fences on all deer farms.  He presented the report for the record.

Dr. King then introduced Dr. Matti Kiupel, Assistant Professor and Veterinary Pathologist at Michigan State University, who gave a presentation on the new Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory at MSU and also described how testing for CWD was done.  Dr. Kiupel gave a brief overview of CWD and testing available to determine the disease.  He said at the present time, testing is only on dead animals, it takes two days for the tests, and they are very labor intensive.  He explained how the tests were done and gave an overview of other tests that are available.  He said all are post-mortem and very expensive.

He also gave a brief overview of the new Diagnostic Lab at Michigan State University, which is scheduled to be open in February of 2004.  He said the new Diagnostic Center Facility will be a comprehensive state-of-the-art facility that incorporates the latest, most effective and best available technology to increase efficiency and responsiveness.  It will consolidate the current lab's operations presently spread over several different building campus-wide into one full-service cutting edge facility.  The Department of Natural Resources, Rose Lake Wildlife Research staff will also be moving into the new building.

Dr. Anderson asked about testing blood and Dr. Kiupel said that was also very expensive and very difficult to do.  However, there are a number of research groups around the world working on this.

Dr. Tanner explained that there may be another Public Meeting after the September 16 meeting and it would be announced as soon as possible.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:37 p.m.