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Animal health and welfare has become an increasingly important consideration in deliberations concerning public health, food cost, technology, and trade policy. ERS experts provide research and analysis on the impact of domestic and international animal health and welfare policies and regulations on livestock production, health, and food costs.
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Careful surveillance and monitoring of invasive livestock diseases and pests is necessary to maintain the health of U.S. food production animals. Both endemic and foreign animal diseases can inflict losses upon American livestock producers. Diseases that are specific to certain types of livestock, but not humans, can cause catastrophic economic losses to producers, as well as affecting the availability and prices of meats and other animal products demanded by U.S. consumers. See Dissecting the Challenges of Mad Cow and Foot-And-Mouth Disease for a discussion of issues surrounding bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) and Foot-and-Mouth (FMD) disease. USDA's Foot-and Mouth-Disease page has additional information. ERS has information on issues affecting domestic and international beef markets and has collected background data for BSE coverage. Taiwan's 1997 FMD outbreak is discussed in Taiwan's Hog Industry: 3 Years After Disease Outbreak.
Feeding low levels of antimicrobial drugs to livestock affects food safety, human health, and livestock production costs and returns. Economic Effects of a Ban Against Antimicrobial Drugs Used in U.S. Beef Production and Anti-microbial Resistance and Veterinary Costs in U.S. Livestock Production examine the economics of anti-microbial resistance in livestock and the economic implications of banning the use of growth-enhancing anti-microbial drugs in livestock production.
web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
updated: January 7, 2004
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