Summary
The
Animal Health Foresight Project was co‑sponsored by the Canadian
Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA). This study is the most recent of a series of four
international workshops of the International Working Group on Animal
Disposal Alternatives (IWADA), created to determine alternative options
for effective disease control without mass animal destruction. The
study employed foresight technology to stimulate new thinking using
the future perspective tools of challenge questions and scenario development.
A total of 43 Canadian and American participants from industry,
academia, the public and government made their contributions over
the duration of four meetings. The group developed and analysed eight
pictures of possible futures. Ten conclusions were formulated. Fundamental
to these conclusions was the recognition of a need for a conceptual
change to the management of animal health, a new paradigm. This paradigm
was a policy change to the management of risks rather than disease
elimination, a change in the roles for the establishment of policy
and a convergence of animal health and public health. The new paradigm
was incorporated into a hierarchy of decision-making options, out
of which five principles for alternatives to mass animal destruction
were identified.
Keywords
Alternatives
to animal disposal, Animal disease control, Foresight technology,
International working group, Mass animal destruction, New paradigm,
Stamping out.
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