Cattle from Mexico

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