FINAL BILL REPORT

ESJM 8050

As Passed Legislature

Brief Description: Informing Congress of Washington's expertise in animal disease.

Sponsors: Senators Sheahan and Rasmussen.

Senate Committee on Agriculture

House Committee on Agriculture & Natural Resources

Background: At a work session on January 16 updating state legislative committees on the recent positive test of a cow in Washington State with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), Washington State University (WSU) provided information on the ongoing research and the accomplishments relating to the family of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs).

The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) in the College of Veterinary Medicine developed the first and only currently practical live animal test for any TSE, that being for scrapie, and also defined the distribution of abnormal prions in sheep and goat scrapie. It also conducted the preliminary research for the development of what is now a commercially available diagnostic test for chronic wasting disease, which is a TSE that affects certain wildlife species including deer.

Also, WADDL collaborated with the USDA ARS Animal Disease Research Unit at WSU to develop the assay for BSE testing that has been used in Canada and the United States.

The laboratory at the College of Veterinary Medicine is a fully accredited laboratory and is one of 12 in the national animal health laboratory network developed through homeland security.

Votes on Final Passage:

Senate       48  0

House       95  0