[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 92 (Friday, May 13, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-11675]
Federal Register / Vol. 59, No. 92 / Friday, May 13, 1994 /
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: May 13, 1994]
VOL. 59, NO. 92
Friday, May 13, 1994
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
9 CFR Part 92
[Docket No. 93-086-2]
Cattle from Mexico
AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: We are prohibiting the importation of Holstein steers and
Holstein spayed heifers from Mexico into the United States. The
incidence of tuberculosis in these cattle is significantly higher than
in other breeds. Since 1991, Holstein steers and Holstein spayed
heifers traced back to Mexico have accounted for more than half of the
tuberculosis-infected Mexican-origin cattle identified at slaughter in
the United States. This action will prevent tuberculosis-exposed
Holstein steers and Holstein spayed heifers from Mexico from spreading
the disease to U.S. cattle.
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 13, 1994.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Ronald A. Stenseng, Senior Staff
Veterinarian, Cattle Diseases and Surveillance Staff, Veterinary
Services, APHIS, USDA, room 729, Federal Building, 6505 Belcrest Road,
Hyattsville, MD 20782, (301) 436-8715.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The regulations in 9 CFR part 92 (referred to below as the
regulations) prohibit or restrict the importation of certain animals,
including cattle from Mexico, to prevent the introduction into the
United States of bovine tuberculosis (referred to below as
tuberculosis) and other communicable diseases of livestock.
On December 22, 1993, we published in the Federal Register (58 FR
67709-67710, Docket No. 93-086-1) a proposal to amend the regulations
by prohibiting the importation of Holstein and Holstein cross-bred
steers and Holstein and Holstein cross-bred spayed heifers from Mexico
into the United States. We proposed this action because of the
disproportionately high incidence of tuberculosis in these cattle.
We solicited comments concerning our proposal for a 60-day comment
period ending February 22, 1994. We received 7 comments by that date.
They were from two dairies, a ranch, a veterinary medical association,
a State animal health agency, a dairy industry association, and the
Mexican government. Four commenters supported our proposal and one
commenter suggested changes to the wording of the proposed amendment.
That suggestion, plus the remarks of the two commenters who opposed the
proposed rule, are discussed below.
Comment: The wording of the proposed amendment should be changed so
that the amendment prohibits not only Holsteins from Mexico, but any
cattle or breeds of cattle normally held in close confinement, such as
Holstein dairy cattle, from any country that does not have a
tuberculosis control program equivalent to that of the United States,
or that has a higher incidence of tuberculosis than the United States.
By singling out Mexico, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
(APHIS) is leaving the regulation open to being struck down as a
``trade barrier'' under the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA).
Response: NAFTA Article 712 requires that all sanitary and
phytosanitary measures be based on scientific principles and a risk
assessment; our proposed rule was based on data gathered during APHIS'
epidemiological investigation of the 1,090 cases of tuberculosis-
infected cattle detected at slaughter in the United States during the
18-month period ending March 31, 1993. Consequently, we believe that
our prohibition on the importation of certain cattle from Mexico is
allowable under NAFTA. Conversely, the wide-ranging and ambiguously
worded prohibition suggested by the commenter is not supported by
available data and could not be justified under NAFTA. Therefore, we
are making no changes in response to this comment.
Comment: The proposal supports the importation of tuberculosis from
Mexico by allowing infected and exposed cattle to be imported from
Mexico. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's current regulations and
the proposed rule defy rational thinking if one is truly concerned
about protecting American cattle, wildlife, and humans from
tuberculosis imported from Mexico.
Response: It appears that the commenter is seeking an outright
prohibition on the importation of all cattle from Mexico, although he
did not offer any justification for such a ban. As we stated in the
proposed rule, 713 tuberculosis-infected cattle were identified as
being of Mexican origin during the 18-month period ending March 31,
1993; of those infected cattle, 67 percent were identified as Holstein
or Holstein cross-bred steers or Holstein or Holstein cross-bred spayed
heifers. Based on that information, we proposed to ban the importation
of what appears to be the largest single source of tuberculosis-
infected cattle among cattle imported into the United States from
Mexico. Any actions of the type suggested by the commenter would have
to be based on verifiable data and would have to be proposed as part of
a separate rulemaking proceeding.
Comment: In its Fiscal Year (FY) 1993 report on the State-Federal
Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Program, APHIS stated that
epidemiologic investigations involving Mexican steers have shown that
approximately 67 percent of the infected imports are of the Holstein
breed. APHIS has not, however, produced data indicating a similarly
high incidence of tuberculosis in Holstein cross-bred cattle. In the
absence of data showing that the incidence of tuberculosis in Holstein
cross-bred steers and spayed heifers is at an unacceptably high level,
it would not be appropriate to impose further restrictions on their
importation.
Response: The breed identification information used by APHIS in
preparing the FY 1993 report mentioned by the commenter placed Holstein
and Holstein cross-bred cattle together in one category. Because such a
high percentage of tuberculosis-infected Mexican cattle had been
identified as Holstein or Holstein cross-bred cattle, our proposal
included both categories. However, animal health officials of the
Mexican Government have informed APHIS that Holstein cross-bred cattle
are raised under different conditions than Holstein cattle, and thus
are much less likely to have a comparable rate of tuberculosis
infection. According to those animal health officials, Holstein cross-
bred cattle in Mexico are not raised in dairies, as are Holstein
cattle, but are usually raised in pastures, often in states where no
dairies are located. Given those significant environmental differences,
it appears that Holstein cross-bred cattle present less of a risk than
had been thought. Additionally, APHIS animal health personnel involved
in conducting tracebacks of tuberculosis-infected cattle from Mexico
have confirmed that Holstein cross-bred cattle do not appear to present
the high level of risk presented by Holstein cattle. Therefore, in
response to the comment, we have removed Holstein cross-bred steers and
spayed heifers from this final rule.
Comment: In the proposed rule, APHIS stated that the importation of
Holstein and Holstein cross-bred breeding cattle would not be
prohibited because the tuberculosis testing required of breeding cattle
appears adequate to detect infection in breeding cattle. If the testing
procedure is adequate to allow the importation of breeding cattle, it
seems that the procedure should also be adequate to allow the
importation of steers and spayed heifers.
Response: The testing requirements for breeding cattle are
different from the testing requirements for steers and spayed heifers.
Under the regulations in Sec. 92.427(c), breeding cattle offered for
entry into the United States must be accompanied by a certificate
stating that they have been tuberculin tested within the last 3 to 12
months. The breeding cattle are then detained at the port of entry
under the supervision of the port veterinarian until tested for
tuberculosis with negative results. The testing requirements for steers
and spayed heifers, on the other hand, call for only one test,
performed either in Mexico no more than 60 days prior to entry, or, if
the importer so elects, at the port of entry. Given the large number of
steers and spayed heifers imported into the United States--
approximately 1 million in an average year--we cannot, as the commenter
suggested, apply the same testing requirements to breeding cattle and
steers and spayed heifers; APHIS simply does not have the resources to
test every steer and spayed heifer offered for entry from Mexico.
Consequently, we are making no changes in response to the comment.
Therefore, based on the rationale set forth in the proposed rule
and in this document, we are adopting the provisions of the proposal as
a final rule with the changes discussed in this document.
Executive Order 12866 and Regulatory Flexibility Act
This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12866. This rule
has been determined to be not significant for the purposes of Executive
Order 12866 and, therefore, has not been reviewed by the Office of
Management and Budget.
Of the approximately 1 million Mexican cattle imported from Mexico
into the United States during 1991, the most recent year for which
complete data are available, we estimate that nearly 12 percent were
Holstein steers (in the 1991 data, spayed heifers were counted as
steers). During the same year, the U.S. cattle population totaled 99.4
million head. Thus, imported Mexican Holstein steers accounted for less
than 1 percent of the total U.S. bovine population.
The total value of imported Mexican Holstein and Holstein cross-
bred steers was close to $45 million in 1991, less than one-tenth of 1
percent of the 1991 value of the U.S. live cattle inventory, which was
estimated at more than $64 billion.
Approximately 48,000 cattle feedlots were operating in the United
States during 1991. Of those, 620 feedlots concentrated in western
States regularly handle Mexican cattle. Approximately 67 of the
feedlots handling Mexican cattle have a capacity of 1,000 head or
fewer; such lots can be considered small entities. They account for
less than 1 percent of all domestic feedlots. We do not expect this
action to significantly affect U.S. importers because they can replace
the Holstein steers and Holstein spayed heifers that they may currently
import from Mexico with other breeds of feeder cattle.
Under these circumstances, the Administrator of the Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that this action will
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities.
Executive Order 12778
This rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12778, Civil
Justice Reform. This rule: (1) Preempts all State and local laws and
regulations that are inconsistent with this rule; (2) has no
retroactive effect; and (3) does not require administrative proceedings
before parties may file suit in court challenging this rule.
Paperwork Reduction Act
This document contains no information collection or recordkeeping
requirements under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (44 U.S.C. 3501
et seq.).
List of Subjects in 9 CFR Part 92
Animal diseases, Imports, Livestock, Poultry and poultry products,
Quarantine, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Accordingly, 9 CFR part 92 is amended as follows:
PART 92--IMPORTATION OF CERTAIN ANIMALS AND POULTRY AND CERTAIN
ANIMAL AND POULTRY PRODUCTS; INSPECTION AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR
CERTAIN MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS THEREON
1. The authority citation for part 92 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1622; 19 U.S.C. 1306; 21 U.S.C. 102-105,
111, 114a, 134a, 134b, 134c, 134d, 134f, 135, 136, and 136a; 31
U.S.C. 9701; 7 CFR 2.17, 2.51, and 371.2(d).
2. In Sec. 92.427, a new paragraph (c)(5) is added to read as
follows:
Sec. 92.427 Cattle from Mexico
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(5) The importation of Holstein steers and Holstein spayed heifers
from Mexico is prohibited.
* * * * *
Done in Washington, DC, this 9th day of May 1994.
Lonnie J. King,
Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 94-11675 Filed 5-12-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P
