Animal Welfare; Petition for Rulemaking

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

9 CFR Parts 1 and 3

[Docket No. 98-106-2]

Animal Welfare; Petition for Rulemaking

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: We are extending the comment period for our notice of a

petition for rulemaking received by the Secretary of Agriculture. The

petition, sponsored by several petitioners, requests that the Secretary

amend the definition of ``animal'' in the Animal Welfare Act

regulations to remove the current exclusion of rats and mice bred for

use in research and birds and ``grant such other relief as the

Secretary deems just and proper.'' This extension will provide

interested persons with additional time to prepare and submit comments

on the petition.

DATES: Consideration will be given only to comments on Docket No. 98-

106-1 that are received on or before May 28, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Please send your comment and three copies to: Docket No. 98-

106-1, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Suite 3C03,

4700 River Road, Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.

Please state that your comment refers to Docket No. 98-106-1.

You may read any comments that we receive on this docket in our

reading room. The reading room is located in room 1141 of the USDA

South Building, 14th Street and Independence Avenue, SW., Washington,

DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through

Friday, except holidays. To be sure someone is there to help you,

please call (202) 690-2817 before coming.

APHIS documents published in the Federal Register, and related

information, including the names of organizations and individuals who

have commented on APHIS rules, are available on the Internet at http://

www.aphis.usda.gov/ppd/rad/webrepor.html.

Any person who wishes to submit a comment electronically must use a

form located on the Internet at http://comments.aphis.usda.gov.

Electronically submitted comments need only be submitted once. These

comments are available for public viewing at the same Internet address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Jerry DePoyster, Senior Veterinary

Medical Officer, AC, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 84, Riverdale, MD

20737-1228, (301) 734-7833.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

On January 28, 1999, we published in the Federal Register (64 FR

4356-4367, Docket No. 98-106-1) a notice of petition and request for

comments regarding a petition for rulemaking received by the Secretary

of Agriculture. The petition, sponsored by several petitioners,

requests that the Secretary take two actions: (1) Initiate rulemaking

proceedings to amend the definition of ``animal'' in the Animal Welfare

Act (AWA) regulations to remove the current exclusion of rats and mice

bred for use in research and birds, and (2) ``grant such other relief

as the Secretary deems just and proper.'' The AWA regulations are

contained in title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), parts 1

through 3; the definitions of terms used in the AWA regulations are at

9 CFR 1.1.

Comments on the petition were required to be received on or before

March 29, 1999. We have received a request to extend the period during

which comments will be accepted. In response, we are extending the

comment period on Docket No. 98-106-1 for an additional 60 days. This

action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and

submit comments.

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 2131-2159; 7 CFR 2.22, 2.80, and 371.2(g).

Done in Washington, DC, this 26th day of February 1999.

Joan M. Arnoldi,

Acting Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

[FR Doc. 99-5359 Filed 3-3-99; 8:45 am]

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