News

Former Mayor and Prominent One Health Initiative Advisory Board Member Issues Letter to United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Supporting ...   ‘‘Advancing Emergency Preparedness Through One Health Act of 2018’’, a bipartisan U.S. Senate Bill introduced for public health—One Health is a NON-PARTISAN issue Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) and Senator Todd Young (R-IN) have introduced this visionary bipartisan Senate Bill S.2615 regarding One Health, a non-partisan issue. https://smithsenate.app.box.com/s/y4cjf9e2kl7kzbyeb4jg8q2engdgofiw.   Details of bill https://smithsenate.app.box.com/s/8q8y8fgvkgyn0vue5rjh1d628vyk50ca. For more on S.2615, see Https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/2615/text?q=searchtina+smith&r=18 April 4, 2018   Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions [https://www.help.senate.gov/] Hon. Lamar Alexander, Chair 428 Senate Dirksen Office Building Washington, DC 20510 RE: S.2615 – “Advancing Emergency Preparedness through One Health Act of 2018”   Dear Chairman Alexander and members of the HELP Committee: Thank you for considering S.2615, a non-partisan bill co-sponsored by Senators Tina Smith (D-MN) and Todd Young (R-IN) to establish an interagency One Health program, among other purposes. This is to ask you to report this bill to the full body with your recommendation for approval. Connections among human, animal, and environmental health fall generally under the jurisdiction of your committee, as they relate to health, public welfare, miners, biomedical research, agricultural colleges, education, and even the Red Cross. It is vital that we address them in a coordinated, integrated, “unsiloed” framework, as would be enabled by this proposed legislation.    Elected officials represent a wide range of interests and expertise, and arrive at policy decisions from those foundational perspectives. This is to urge you to consider this One Health Act from what you know… medicine, agriculture, education, systems thinking, workforce resiliency, military preparedness, etc. The One Health approach applies to concerns like cross-species infectious disease transmission (e.g. E-coli 0157, pandemic flu), vector-borne diseases (e.g. Zika), animal models for human illnesses (e.g. Alzheimer’s), efficacy of antibiotics and other drugs, immediate and long-range adverse effects of environmental contaminants (e.g. black lung disease), holistic emergency preparedness and responsiveness (e.g. hurricanes/severe storms, wildfire, floods), food safety, economic implications for commodity exports (e.g. certifiable quality of wheat, apples, soybeans, corn, fish), bioterrorism/food security, military medical readiness, capacity to produce food animals and crops under changing environmental circumstances, opening the minds and job opportunities for One Health leaders of tomorrow, and more. As a nurse, environmental scientist, medical student trainer, former mayor and leader in my state association and National League of Cities, spouse of a veterinarian, and member of the One Health advisory board, I try to see the big picture. I hope you can too. Please support S.2615 for the future of our country and our world. Respectfully, Nancy Chaney [Nancy Chaney, RN, MS – Environmental Science– Past President, Association of Idaho Cities and Board member, National League of Cities, former mayor, City of Moscow Idaho (USA) http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/advBoard.php]  C:       Hon. Mike Crapo, Senator from Idaho            Hon. James Risch, Senator from Idaho Note: *Mayor Chaney shepherded an historic One Health resolution through the National League of Cities in 2011 http://onehealthinitiative.com/news.php?query=National+League+of+Cities+-+Adopted+One+Health+Resolution+at+the+2011+Congress+of+Cities+-+November+12+2011+USA+ or https://goo.gl/BVMVGS. **The American Nurses Association (ANA) officially endorsed the One Health Initiative December 9, 2010 http://www.theamericannurse.org/2011/02/02/ana-joins-the-one-health-initiative/ ***See http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/news.php?query=Call+to+action+for+U.S.+One+Health+legislation...Advancing+Emergency+Preparedness+Through+One+Health+Act+of+2018+a+bipartisan+Senate+Bill+introduced+for+public+healthOne+Health+is+a+NON-PARTISAN+issue+ or https://goo.gl/MgKvAW.