Every dairy publication in the U.S. has carried multiple articles about FMD, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Johne's disease. The US has been extremely fortunate to be free of FMD for more than 70 years. The reaction of our government to all this publicity is that we must be prepared for FMD and BSE problems before they occur.

National and state governments have developed plans to deal with FMD if and when it occurs in the U.S. Many U.S. veterinarians have been trained in proper FMD eradication programs. U.S. Veterinarians (both employees and volunteers) have traveled to England to assist with their eradication efforts. This is a once-in-a-life-time experience. Veterinarians that have worked hands-on in England with the process of destroying animals, burning animals, and burying animals are strongly affected by this experience. Many become emotional as they try to describe their experience helping English dairy farmers and veterinarians.

One major challenge to the U.S. dairy industry is to maintain the confidence of the American consumer in the face of so much negative publicity. So far, U.S. consumers continue to have confidence in the safety of U.S. dairy products. Several farm groups have joined together to form a new DAIRY TRUST program. The objective of this new program is to communicate everyday to our customers that the dairy products they purchase are safe.

Most of this program is funded by check-off advertising dollars collected directly from dairy farmers. These dollars are supporting other programs designed to document food safety. I agree that this is good use of our check-off dollars. This is an important issue and a critical time. We need to be proactive on this issue.

My primary concern is that several irresponsible animal rights groups have made statements wishing for the spread of FMD and BSE into the U.S. They have stated that this would be helpful to their cause and promote more vegetarianism. I think we may be able to prevent accidental spread of FMD into this country but it is more difficult to prevent intentional spread of FMD. Many dairy farmers including Hill Top Dairy have tried to purchase insurance for FMD. Insurance companies have never offered this type insurance coverage. Recently, one company announced that they are planning to introduce a new insurance program for FMD.

The advisory and executive boards of World Dairy Expo had to make a decision if they should cancel this year's Expo. They decided to go ahead with this year's meeting but have implemented several new biosecurity procedures. They have canceled all dairy farm tours and placed restrictions on cattle movement that compete in shows.

It is interesting that the executive board of World Pork Expo decided to cancel this year's meeting. They have visitors from many countries that have FMD, similar to World Dairy Expo. These are difficult issues. The publicity concerning FMD, BSE, and Johne's continues to be overwhelming. Critical times require difficult decisions. Let us hope that we all learn from this. Our hearts go out to those countries that are fighting outbreaks of FMD.