The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) conducts regulatory and control programs to protect and improve the health of plants and animals. APHIS is responsible for regulating genetically engineered organisms, administering the Animal Welfare Act, and carrying out wildlife damage management activities. The agency’s efforts support the USDA in the department’s duties to protect the nation’s food, agriculture and natural resources. Additional areas of assistance include helping to contain and eradicate agricultural pests or diseases, and developing science-based standards with trading partners to ensure the country’s agricultural exports. The current Administrator of APHIS is Cindy Smith.
While APHIS was formerly established in 1972, its varied functions date to the early mid-1800s, when early animal and plant health bureaus of the United States government operated independently of one another. The creation of APHIS consolidated these functions.
The earliest predecessor to APHIS was the Office of the Entomologist in the Patent Office’s Agricultural Section from 1854-1863, which later became the Division of Entomology under the USDA from 1863-1904, and then the Bureau of Entomology until 1934. Early veterinary functions were performed by the Treasury Cattle Commission under the Treasury Department from 1881-1884, and the USDA’s Veterinary Division (1883-1884) which was quickly renamed the Bureau of Animal Industry and ran from 1884-1942. The Bureau ran promoted livestock disease research, enforced animal import regulations, and controlled the interstate movement of animals. Plant quarantine functions were later established in 1912, with the creation of the USDA’s Federal Horticultural Board. The Board was later separated into various plant health bureaus in 1928.
In 1953 the functions of these various offices were consolidated under the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service where plant and livestock responsibilities were placed either in the research or regulatory division. The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 added the additional role of regulating warm-blooded animals used in research, bred for commercial sale, exhibited to the public or commercially transported, as did the Horse Protection Act of 1970.
In 1971 animal and plant regulatory functions separated from the ARS to become the Animal and Plant Health Service. A year later, the agency officially became APHIS, after taking on meat and poultry inspection divisions of the Consumer and Marketing Service, however these duties were later moved to a different agency in 1977. In 1974, animal quarantine inspection activities at ports were added to to the agency, but most of these functions were transferred to the Department of Homeland Security in 2002.
APHIS entered the biotechnology field in 1985 when it became the agency responsible for regulating biotechnology-derived products that affect animal and plant health, that same year APHIS also took on the Animal Damage Control program from the Interior Department. In 1987 the international programs staff at APHIS were given Foreign Service status, increasing its role in facilitating international trade and promoting global safeguards. Additional functions were added to APHIS in 2000, with the Plant Protection Act, the 2002 Animal Health Protection Act, and the 2002 creation of the Biotechnology Regulatory Services program.
In 2002, many APHIS staff members involved in port inspections were transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is responsible for protecting animals, plants and the agricultural industry through a variety of programs:
APHIS spent nearly $3.9 billion in grants from 2000-2010, 59 percent of which went to government entities, according to USAspending.gov. The agency also spent nearly $1.4 billion in contracts from 2000-2010. The top contract recipients and their percent of total contracting in this period were:
1. The Davey Tree Expert Company $104,820,461 (8%)
2. Dynamic Avication Group Inc. $65,142,328 (5%)
3. Hesta AG $61,773,997 (5%)
4. Sanofi-Aventis $53,211,143 (4%)
5. Merial Ltd. $40,524,025 (3%)
The Davey Tree Expert Company, the agency’s largest contractor, is a leading tree and lawncare company offering services from vegetation management to forestry and natural resource consulting, large tree moving, tree care, golf course and athletic field maintenance, and plant nursery services. Dynamic Aviation, the second largest contractor makes aircraft, provides flight crews and offers maintenance services. Swiss company Hesta AG, the third largest contractor, manufactures electronics and provides real estate services.
APHIS also distributed $123 million in direct payments from 2000-2010, according to a query of USAspending.gov.
Microchips for Pets
APHIS stirred controversy when it decided to back a microchip standard for companion animals like dogs and cats, ending the product wars between companies offering diverse and incompatible identification systems. In 2006, Congress added an amendment to the House agricultural appropriations bill to address the matter. On one side are manufacturers that want their device to become the standard. On the other are individual pet owners, some of whom consider the implantation of microchips to be dangerous to the health of their animals. Still others believe the agency has no right to regulate private pet ownership by demanding that all pets have the microchip implanted.
Border Issues for Cattle
Controversy arose in 2005 when Wenonah Hauter, director of the Energy and Environment Program for Public Citizen, appeared before a Senate appropriations subcommittee to criticize recent announcements by APHIS that allowed reopening the U.S. border to live Canadian cattle. In 2003, three cows had been diagnosed with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, all of them of Canadian origin. Hauter cited a recent USDA report that seemed to show that APHIS was not equipped to handle the permitting process for importing Canadian beef. Of added concern was APHIS’ decision to allow irradiated fruit and vegetables from abroad, leaving domestic farmers vulnerable to unfair competition and exposing consumers to possible health problems.
Plum Island Animal Disease Center
In 2004, author Michael Christopher Carroll published a book called Lab 257:The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Plum Island Germ Laboratory, which detailed frightening lapses in security in this federal laboratory, located on a secret island off Long Island, New York. The book presents startling revelations, including virus outbreaks, biological meltdowns, infected workers who were denied assistance in diagnosis by Plum Island personnel, the periodic flushing of contaminated raw sewage into area waters, and connections between Plum Island, Lyme disease, and the deadly 1999 West Nile virus outbreak. The book criticises the USDA and APHIS in their role in these lapses.
APHIS Allows Farmers to Cultivate GMO Test Crops
In March 2003, APHIS announced that the federal government would allow American farmers to continue field tests of genetically modified crops engineered to produce medicinal and industrial products. The move was meant to silence environmentalists, public health advocates and food industry groups who feared that biopharm and genetically modified crops could contaminate crops growing nearby and cause health problems. In December 2002, several farm organizations filed a legal petition calling on the USDA to prohibit open-air cultivation of biopharm crops, and in 2003 they announced their plans to sue the USDA to halt the planting of biopharm crops, citing the agency's “gross violations of law” for allowing the field testing of biopharm crops without performing the required environmental safety studies.
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Founded: 1972
Annual Budget: $1.1 billion (FY 2011 Budget)
Employees: 6,120
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Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
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Parham, Gregory
Administrator
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Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service: Who Is Gregory Parham?
Born circa 1953 in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, which professes to be the birthplace of the commercial tomato, Parham was inspired by his father, who served many years as a veterinarian for APHIS. Parham earned a B.S. in Microbiology at the Ohio State University in 1975, a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from the same school in 1980, and a Masters of Administrative Science at the Johns Hopkins University in 1986. As a trainee veterinarian testing cattle for brucellosis in Florida, Parham found that he had to keep an eye out for alligators.
Parham began his Federal career in July 1980 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the Public Health Service at the Centers for Disease Control. He joined USDA in November 1982 as Staff Officer for Epidemiology in the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1986, he was promoted to Chief of the Epidemiology Branch of FSIS, remaining there until 1990, when he was named Director for Distance Education and Information Technology in the [then] Extension Service in Washington, DC. In 1994, he began serving as the National Program Leader for Livestock Production and Extension Veterinary Medicine in the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, which was the predecessor of today’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
In 1997, he took another information technology position, serving as the Executive Sponsor for USDA’s Year 2000–or “ Y2K”–Remediation until 2000, when he transitioned to being Associate Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Information Resources Management in the Office of the USDA CIO, where he was credited with reducing the department’s IT portfolio costs by 30 percent in a two-year period, mostly by eliminating redundant information systems. In March 2006, Parham started working for APHIS, first as CIO until January 2008, then as Deputy Administrator for Marketing and Regulatory Programs–Business Services from February 2008 to October 2009, and as Associate Administrator from November 2009 to April 2011.
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