(C) A flock will no longer be considered an infected flock
after it has completed the requirements of the Flock Plan.
(27) Interstate Commerce--trade, traffic, transportation, or
other commerce between a place in a State or any place outside of that State,
or between points within a State but through any place outside of that State.
(28) Limited Contact--incidental contacts between animal off
the flock's premises such as:
(A) at fairs, shows, exhibitions, and sales; or,
(B) between ewes being inseminated, flushed, or implanted;
or,
(C) between rams at ram test or collection stations; or,
(D) as determined by the Designated Scrapie Epidemiologist;
(E) do not include any contact, incidental or otherwise, with
an animal during or up to 30 days after she has lambed, kidded, or aborted,
or when there is any visible vaginal discharge.
(F) do not include any activity where uninhibited contact occurs,
such a sharing an enclosure, or residing in other flocks for breeding or other
purposes, except as allowed by the Scrapie Flock Certification Program standards.
Note: Embryo transfer, artificial insemination equipment, and surgical tools
must be sterilized between animals for these contacts to be considered to
be limited contacts.
(29) Live-Animal Screening Test--any test for the diagnosis
of scrapie in a live animal that is approved by the APHIS Administrator but
not necessarily definitive for diagnosing scrapie, and is conducted in an
Approved Laboratory.
(30) Low-Risk Commercial Sheep--animals that are identified
with an official eartag that are commercial whitefaced, whitefaced cross,
or commercial hair sheep, from a flock with no known risk factors for scrapie,
including any exposure to female blackfaced sheep and that are not scrapie-positive,
suspect, high-risk, or exposed animals and are not animals from infected,
source, or exposed flock. Low-risk commercial sheep may exist in a State where
scrapie has not been diagnosed in the previous 10 years in commercial whitefaced,
whitefaced cross, or hair sheep that had not commingled with female blackfaced
sheep.
(31) Low-Risk Goat--A goat that is not scrapie-positive, high-risk,
or exposed, and that has not been commingled with sheep, except low-risk commercial
sheep, and/or that is from:
(A) A state in which scrapie has not been identified in a goat
during the previous 10 years.
(B) A state in which scrapie has been identified in a goat
during the previous 10 years, but the scrapie-positive goat was not born in
the state and had resided in the state for less than 72 months and did not
kid while in the state; or,
(C) A state in which scrapie has been identified in a goat
during the previous 10 years, and the scrapie-positive goat was commingled
with sheep, but flock records allowed an epidemiological investigation to
be completed and all resulting infected, source, and exposed goat herds have
completed flock plans and are in compliance with post-exposure monitoring
plans.
(32) National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL)--The
National Veterinary Services Laboratories of USDA-APHIS-Veterinary Services,
and its cooperating and contract laboratories.
(33) Non-Compliant Flock:
(A) Any source or infected flock whose owner declines to enter
into a flock plan or post-exposure management and monitoring plan agreement
within 30 days of being so designated, or whose owner is not compliant with
either agreement;
(B) Any exposed flock whose owner fails to make animals available
for testing within 60 days of notification, or mutually agreed date, or whose
owner fails to submit to required postmortem samples;
(C) Any flock whose owner has misrepresented, or who employs
a person who has misrepresented, their scrapie status of an animal or any
other information on a certificate, permit, owner statement, or other official
document within the past 5 years; or,
(D) Any flock whose owner or manager has moved an animal in
violation of this chapter within the past 5 years, or who employs a person
who has moved an animal in violation of this chapter within the past 5 years.
(34) Official Genotype Test--Any test to determine the genotype
of a live or dead animal that is conducted at an Approved Laboratory, when
the animal is officially identified and the samples used for the test are
collected and shipped to the laboratory by either an accredited veterinarian
or a State or USDA representative.
(35) Official Identification--Identification approved by APHIS
and TAHC for use in the scrapie eradication program.
(36) Official Test--Any test for the diagnosis of scrapie in
a live or dead animal that is approved by the Administrator of APHIS for that
use and conducted either at an approved laboratory or at the NVSL.
(37) Owner--a person, partnership, company, corporation, or
any other legal entity which has legal or rightful title to animals, whether
or not they are subject to a mortgage, or his or her agent.
(38) Permit--The VS Form 1-27, an official document issued
in connection with interstate movement of animals, that is issued by an APHIS
or TAHC representative, State representative, or an accredited veterinarian
authorized to sign the permit. The permit lists:
(A) Owner's name and address
(B) Points of origin and destination
(C) Number of animals in the consignment
(D) Purpose of the movement
(E) Statement of whether the animals are scrapie-positive,
high-risk, exposed, or scrapie suspect
(F) The license number of the transporting vehicle.
(G) The seal number (if the shipment is under seal)
(H) Official identification numbers (individual or premise)
Note: This definition does not pertain to the movement of healthy unexposed
animals.
(39) Post-Exposure Management and Monitoring Plan--A written
agreement signed by the owner of the flock, an accredited veterinarian employed
by the owner, and a State or APHIS representative in which each participant
agrees to undertake actions specified in the agreement to monitor for the
occurrence of scrapie in the flock for at least 5 years after the last high-risk
or scrapie-positive animal is removed from the flock or after the last exposure
of the flock to a scrapie-positive animal, unless otherwise specified by a
State or APHIS representative. The flock owner must provide the facilities
and personnel needed to carry out the requirements of the plan. The plan must
include the requirements specified in 9 CFR 54.8.
(40) Premises Identification Eartag--An identification eartag
approved by the TAHC and APHIS as being sufficiently tamper-resistant for
the intended use and providing unique identification for each premise of origin
(officially assigned premise identification number.
(41) Program--The cooperative State-Federal-Industry program
administered by APHIS and Consistent States to control and eradicate scrapie.
(42) Scrapie--A non-febrile, transmissible insidious degenerative
disease affecting the central nervous system of sheep and goats.
(43) Scrapie Control Pilot Project--A pilot project authorized
by the APHIS and TAHC in writing, designed to test or improve program procedures
or to facilitate research, in order to control and eradicate scrapie.
(44) Scrapie Eradication Program--The cooperative State-Federal
program administered by APHIS and Consistent States to control and eradicate
scrapie.
(45) Scrapie Eradication Uniform Methods and Rules (UM&R)--Cooperative
procedures and standards adopted by APHIS and Consistent States for controlling
and eradication scrapie.
(46) Scrapie Flock Certification Program:
(A) a voluntary State-Federal-Industry cooperative effort established
and maintained to reduce the incidence and spread of scrapie, and which contributes
to the eventual eradication of scrapie; and,
(B) a monitoring program to identify individual flocks that
have been free of evidence of scrapie over specified time periods.
(47) Scrapie Flock Certification Program Standards--Cooperative
procedures and standards adopted by State and APHIS scrapie certification
boards for reducing the incidence and spread of scrapie, and to identify flocks
which have not exhibited clinical signs of scrapie over specified periods
of time.
(48) Scrapie-Positive Animal--An animal for which a diagnosis
of scrapie has been made by the NVSL or another laboratory authorized by the
Administrator to conduct official scrapie tests in accordance with 9 CFR 54,
through:
(A) histopathological examination of central nervous system
(CNS/brain stem) tissues from an animal with characteristic microscopic lesions
of scrapie; or,
Cont'd... |