To: Jon Koplik who wrote (4401 ) 2/26/2025 3:31:24 AM From: Jon Koplik 1 RecommendationRecommended By
Respond to WSJ Opinion -- need more precise approach to bird flu than killing or vaccinating chickens ..................By Sierra Dawn McClain A recent meme showed a young man shopping for Valentine’s Day. “Impress her with something expensive,” the text said. The man then turned around to reveal the gift: a carton of eggs. rose 15% in January and were up 53% year over year, according to the latest consumer-price index.Politicians are predictably blaming each other. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Jan. 28 that the U.S. faces an egg shortage because “the Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing” of millions of chickens. She’s right that government-directed chicken killings contributed to the egg shortage, but she glosses over several complications. The true culprit behind the egg shortage is Mother Nature. A severe strain of avian influenza that broke out in the U.S. in 2022 -- and is still spreading -- has affected more than 160 million birds. Ms. Leavitt’s comment about “mass killing” referred to the USDA’s longstanding policy of killing all chickens on a farm with a bird-flu outbreak. A 2002 federal law gives the department the authority to “depopulate” flocks to stop the spread of disease. The Obama, first-term Trump and Biden administrations mandated mass killing to stop bird flu from spreading during the 2014-15 , 2017 and 2022-25 outbreaks, respectively. The department compensates farmers for part of their losses, but farms still take significant hits. In a Feb. 16 interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett indicated that the Trump administration might move away from the depopulation policy. “The Biden plan was to just, you know, kill chickens,” he said. The administration needs “better ways, with biosecurity and medication and so on” to control the virus and avoid killing chickens. Mr. Hassett’s words came two days after Zoetis, an animal-health company, announced that the Trump administration had issued it a conditional license for its avian influenza vaccine. The USDA didn’t respond to questions about its new bird-flu strategy, but it plans to make an announcement soon. The department has long focused on responding to outbreaks rather than preventing them. But the virus is complicated and although scientists have researched it for decades, an immediate fix isn’t likely. If President Trump is considering an end to the depopulation approach, he should weigh the benefits and drawbacks. The practice of killing all birds on an infected farm is grim. Any farmer who’s had to kill livestock during a disease outbreak knows how devastating it is, economically and personally. But the policy also can be effective. Killing birds at an infected farm makes it less likely the virus will spread elsewhere. Live birds are highly contagious; dead ones aren’t. If a single chicken gets infected, the virus usually hits the entire flock. Chickens that contract the virus have little chance of survival; 90% to 100% of infected birds die . Many veterinarians consider it more humane to kill a flock quickly -- by gassing, for instance -- rather than letting the birds suffer. If the administration keeps the policy, it should use the most humane killing methods available. Vaccination also has pros and cons. Vaccines are preventive, and vaccinated birds are less likely to contract and spread the flu. Current vaccination methods, however, are labor-intensive. A Zoetis spokeswoman confirmed that the conditional license is for a one-dose subcutaneous injection, meaning that a large farm would have to give shots to tens or hundreds of thousands or even millions of individual birds. If the USDA is exploring public-private partnerships, it should consider investing in research to develop a vaccine that can be mass-administered through feed or drinking water. New vaccines may need to be developed as bird-flu variants emerge. Vaccination also could affect trade. Most U.S.-produced eggs land in the domestic market, but the broiler, or meat bird, industry exports 17% of its product, and many countries oppose importing meat from vaccinated chickens. Mr. Trump may need to negotiate deals or exempt broilers from vaccination requirements. New methods to monitor and test flocks are emerging. Researchers have tried strapping biosensors to chickens -- like tiny Fitbits -- to track their health. Other sensors monitor flock-level trends. These technologies, however, are in early stages of development and are often costly. “Is that technology ready to roll out? No, but it’s on the horizon,” said Jada Thompson, a University of Arkansas poultry scientist. Studying broader ecosystems is also helpful. In the latest outbreak, the virus has largely spread through wild ducks and geese carrying it to commercial flocks, according to Yuko Sato, an Iowa State University poultry veterinarian. Free-range chickens and flocks near wetland habitats or common bird flight paths are vulnerable to exposure. Maurice Pitesky, associate professor in cooperative extension at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, said it could be useful to track wild bird populations more closely and build waterfowl-friendly habitats in areas that draw wild birds away from farms. “I think we need to be a little more holistic in our approach,” he said. It’s good that Agriculture Department officials are tackling bird flu with renewed energy. But don’t expect affordable omelets on the menu anytime soon. Ms. McClain is an assistant editorial features editor at the Journal.
