II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2615 

To establish an interagency One Health Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2018 

Ms. SMITH (for herself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish an interagency One Health Program, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advancing Emergency 

5 Preparedness Through One Health Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The term ‘‘One Health’’ reflects the inter9 connectedness of human health, animal health, and 

10 the environment. As technology and population 


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1 growth facilitates increased interaction of human 

2 settlements with wildlife habitats and as inter3 national travel and trade increases, the interface be4 tween these elements will also continue to rise. 

5 (2) When zoonotic diseases spillover to humans, 

6 there are often enormous health and economic costs. 

7 The World Bank estimates that, between 1997 and 

8 2009, the global costs from six zoonotic outbreaks 

9 exceeded $80,000,000,000 and the Centers for Dis10 ease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 

11 annually 2,500,000,000 cases of zoonotic infections 

12 globally, resulting in 2,700,000 deaths. 

13 (3) There are also immense effects on the agri14 culture sector. In 2014 and 2015, a high pathogenic 

15 avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak in the United 

16 States led to the cull of nearly 50,000,000 birds, 

17 and imposed up to approximately $3,300,000,000 in 

18 losses for poultry and egg farmers, animal feed pro19 ducers, baked good production, and other related in20 dustries. 

21 (4) Public health preparedness depends on agri22 culture in a variety of ways. For example, a wide 

23 range of vaccines, including those for influenza, yel24 low fever, rabies, and measles-mumps-rubella 

25 (MMR), are primarily cultivated in poultry eggs. 


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1 Egg shortages resulting from zoonotic disease out2 breaks could impose serious risks to vaccine manu3 facturing efforts. 

4 (5) It is estimated that approximately 80 per5 cent of potential pathogens likely to be used in bio6 terrorism or biowarfare are common zoonotic patho7 gens. 

8 (6) While existing Federal Government initia9 tives related to One Health span multiple agencies, 

10 including the Centers for Disease Control and Pre11 vention One Health office and the Department of 

12 Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

13 Services’ One Health Coordination Center, addi14 tional interagency coordination is necessary to help 

15 better prevent, prepare for, and respond to zoonotic 

16 disease outbreaks. 

17 SEC. 3. INTERAGENCY ONE HEALTH PROGRAM. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and 

19 Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture (re20 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretaries’’), in coordination 

21 with the United States Agency for International Develop22 ment, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Depart23 ment of Homeland Security, the Department of the Inte24 rior, the Department of Defense, the Department of Com25 merce, and other departments and agencies as approVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Mar 29, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2615.IS S2615

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1 priate, shall develop, publish, and submit to Congress a 

2 national One Health Framework (referred to in this Act 

3 as the ‘‘framework’’) for coordinated Federal Activities 

4 under the One Health Program. 

5 (b) NATIONAL ONE HEALTH FRAMEWORK.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries, 

8 in cooperation with the United States Agency for 

9 International Development, the Environmental Pro10 tection Agency, the Department of Homeland Secu11 rity, the Department of the Interior, the Department 

12 of Defense, the Department of Commerce, and other 

13 departments and agencies as appropriate, shall de14 velop, publish, and submit to Congress a One Health 

15 Framework (referred to in this section as the 

16 ‘‘framework’’) for coordinated Federal activities 

17 under the One Health Program. 

18 (2) CONTENTS OF FRAMEWORK.—The frame19 work described in paragraph (1) shall describe exist20 ing efforts and contain recommendations for build21 ing upon and complementing the activities of the 

22 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 

23 Food and Drug Administration, the Office of the As24 sistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, 

25 the Department of Agriculture, the United States 


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1 Agency for International Development, the Environ2 mental Protection Agency, the National Institutes of 

3 Health, the Department of Homeland Security, the 

4 Department of the Interior, the Department of the 

5 Interior, and other departments and agencies, as ap6 propriate, and shall— 

7 (A) assess, identify, and describe, as ap8 propriate, existing activities of Federal agencies 

9 and departments under the One Health Pro10 gram and consider whether all relevant agencies 

11 are adequately represented; 

12 (B) for the 10-year period beginning in the 

13 year the framework is submitted, establish spe14 cific Federal goals and priorities that most ef15 fectively advance— 

16 (i) scientific understanding of the con17 nections between human, animal, and envi18 ronmental health; 

19 (ii) coordination and collaboration be20 tween agencies involved in the framework 

21 including sharing data and information, 

22 engaging in joint fieldwork, and engaging 

23 in joint laboratory studies related to One 

24 Health; 


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1 (iii) identification of priority zoonotic 

2 diseases and priority areas of study; 

3 (iv) surveillance of priority zoonotic 

4 diseases and their transmission between 

5 animals and humans; 

6 (v) prevention of priority zoonotic dis7 eases and their transmission between ani8 mals and humans; 

9 (vi) protocol development to improve 

10 joint outbreak response to and recovery 

11 from zoonotic disease outbreaks in animals 

12 and humans; and 

13 (vii) workforce development to prevent 

14 and respond to zoonotic disease outbreaks 

15 in animals and humans; 

16 (C) describe specific activities required to 

17 achieve the goals and priorities described in 

18 subparagraph (B), and propose a timeline for 

19 achieving these goals; 

20 (D) identify and expand partnerships, as 

21 appropriate, among Federal agencies, States, 

22 Indian tribes, academic institutions, nongovern23 mental organizations, and private entities in 

24 order to develop new approaches for reducing 

25 hazards to human and animal health and to 


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1 strengthen understanding of the value of an in2 tegrated approach under the One Health Pro3 gram to addressing public health threats in a 

4 manner that prevents duplication; 

5 (E) identify best practices related to State 

6 and local-level research coordination, field ac7 tivities, and disease outbreak preparedness, re8 sponse, and recovery related to One Health; and 

9 (F) provide recommendations to Congress 

10 regarding additional action or legislation that 

11 may be required to assist in establishing the 

12 One Health Program. 

13 (3) ADDENDUM.—Not later than 3 years after 

14 the creation of the framework, the Secretary, in co15 ordination with the agencies described in paragraph 

16 (1), shall submit to Congress an addendum to the 

17 framework that describes the progress made in ad18 vancing the activities described in the framework. 

19 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 

20 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 

21 such sums as may be necessary. 

22 SEC. 4. GAO REPORT. 

23 Not later than 2 years after the date of the submis24 sion of the addendum under section 3(b)(3), the CompVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Mar 29, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2615.IS S2615

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1 troller General of the United States shall submit to Con2 gress a report that— 

3 (1) details existing collaborative efforts between 

4 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 

5 Food and Drug Administration, the Department of 

6 Agriculture, the United States Agency for Inter7 national Development, the Environmental Protection 

8 Agency, the National Institutes of Health, the De9 partment of Homeland Security, the Department of 

10 the Interior, and other departments and agencies to 

11 prevent and respond to zoonotic disease outbreaks in 

12 animals and humans; and 

13 (2) contains an evaluation of the framework 

14 and the specific activities requested to achieve the 

15 framework. 

Æ 


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