I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 837 

To authorize a special resource study on the spread vectors of chronic wasting 

disease in Cervidae, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 29, 2019 

Mr. ABRAHAM (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. 

EMMER, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana, Mr. KELLY of Mississippi, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. KING of Iowa, 

and Mr. DUFFY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural 

Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize a special resource study on the spread vectors 

of chronic wasting disease in Cervidae, 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 ‘‘Chronic Wasting Dis5 ease Transmission in Cervidae Study Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Chronic wasting disease continues to spread 

2 in wild, free-ranging cervid herds and in captive 

3 cervid herds across the United States and Canada, 

4 and as of December 2018, is in 26 States and three 

5 Canadian provinces. 

6 (2) From December 2017 to December 2018 

7 alone, the disease was detected for the first time in 

8 free-ranging cervid herds in Mississippi, Montana, 

9 and Tennessee, and there were new positive detec10 tions of the disease in 13 captive cervid herds from 

11 Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, 

12 Wisconsin and Quebec, Canada. 

13 (3) Six of such herds are being monitored by 

14 the National Chronic Wasting Disease Herd Certifi15 cation Program of the Animal and Plant Health In16 spection Service, and therefore are considered to be 

17 at low-risk for chronic wasting disease. 

18 (4) From June 2017 to September 2018, 10 

19 States, including Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Min20 nesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, West Virginia, 

21 Wisconsin, and Wyoming, are already fighting to 

22 control the transmission and spread of chronic wast23 ing disease and found positive detections for the dis24 ease in additional wild, free-ranging cervid herds. 


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1 (5) New positive detections in captive cervid 

2 herds were found in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, 

3 Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. 

4 (6) There is no known cure for chronic wasting 

5 disease, no reliable live animal test to detect the dis6 ease, and only a post-mortem test that provides 

7 some measure of reliable detection of the disease. 

8 (7) Chronic wasting disease is 100 percent fatal 

9 and is arguably the most important disease threat10 ening North American cervid resources. 

11 (8) The spread of chronic wasting disease con12 tinues to increasingly and adversely affect the eco13 nomic well-being of rural communities, the hunting 

14 public, farmed cervid producers, and State wildlife 

15 and agricultural agencies, because the only known 

16 measure for reducing the spread of chronic wasting 

17 disease is the complete depopulation of herds that 

18 test positive for the disease, a drastic measure which 

19 comes with great costs for all. 

20 (9) The long-term environmental persistence of 

21 chronic wasting disease’s causative agent means that 

22 State wildlife management agencies, State depart23 ments of agriculture, and private cervid farmers 

24 have relatively few options to mitigate the effects of 

25 such disease. 


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1 (10) There are ongoing debates about the pre2 dominant transmission pathways that are causing 

3 the new detections and continued spread of chronic 

4 wasting disease in cervids across the United States 

5 and Canada. 

6 SEC. 3. CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE TRANSMISSION IN 

7 CERVIDAE RESOURCE STUDY. 

8 (a) STUDY.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries shall enter 

10 into an arrangement with the Academy under which 

11 the Academy shall conduct, and submit to the Secre12 taries a report— 

13 (A) describing the findings of, a special re14 source study to identify the predominant path15 ways and mechanisms of the transmission of 

16 chronic wasting disease in wild, captive, and 

17 farmed populations of cervids in the United 

18 States; and 

19 (B) which may include the potential im20 pacts on the disease from transmissions from 

21 Canada. 

22 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The arrangement under 

23 paragraph (1) shall provide that the actual expenses 

24 incurred by the Academy in conducting the study 


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1 under paragraph (1) shall be paid by the Secre2 taries. 

3 (b) CONTENTS OF THE STUDY.—Within and between 

4 wild, captive, and farmed cervid populations, the study— 

5 (1) may include, to the extent the United States 

6 is affected on a continental scale, the potential im7 pacts on the disease from transmissions from Can8 ada; and 

9 (2) shall— 

10 (A) identify— 

11 (i) the pathways and mechanisms for 

12 the transmission of chronic wasting disease 

13 in cervids and cervid products; 

14 (ii) the dosage and infection rates for 

15 each such pathway and mechanism; and 

16 (iii) the relative frequency of each 

17 mode of such transmission; 

18 (B) identify anthropogenic and environ19 mental factors contributing to new chronic 

20 wasting disease emergence events, the develop21 ment of geographic areas with increased chronic 

22 wasting disease prevalence, and overall geo23 graphic patterns of chronic wasting disease dis24 tribution; 


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1 (C) identify significant gaps in current sci2 entific knowledge regarding the transmission 

3 pathways identified under subparagraph (A); 

4 (D) identify and prioritize scientific re5 search projects that will address the knowledge 

6 gaps referred to in subparagraph (C); and 

7 (E) review science-based best practices, 

8 standards, and guidance regarding the manage9 ment of chronic wasting disease in wild, captive, 

10 and farmed cervid populations in the United 

11 States which have been developed by— 

12 (i) the National Chronic Wasting Dis13 ease Herd Certification Program of the 

14 Animal and Plant Health Inspection Serv15 ice; 

16 (ii) the United States Geological Sur17 vey; and 

18 (iii) State wildlife and agricultural 

19 agencies, which provide practical, science20 based recommendations to State and Fed21 eral agencies for minimizing or eliminating 

22 the risk of transmission of chronic wasting 

23 disease in the United States. 

24 (c) DEADLINE.—Not later than 6 months after the 

25 date on which funds are first made available for the study 


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1 under subsection (a), the Secretaries shall submit to the 

2 Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representa3 tives, the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 

4 of Representatives, the Committee on Environment and 

5 Public Works of the Senate, and the Committee on Agri6 culture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report 

7 that describes— 

8 (1) the findings of the study; and 

9 (2) any conclusions and recommendations that 

10 the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 

11 (d) DATA SHARING.—The Secretaries shall share 

12 with the entity conducting the study under subsection (a) 

13 data and access to databases on chronic wasting disease 

14 under the jurisdiction of— 

15 (1) the Veterinary Services Program of the Ani16 mal and Plant Health Inspection Service; and 

17 (2) the United States Geological Survey. 

18 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act: 

20 (1) CHRONIC WASTING DISEASE.—The term 

21 ‘‘chronic wasting disease’’ means the animal disease 

22 afflicting deer, elk, reindeer, and moose populations 

23 that— 


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1 (A) is a transmissible disease of the nerv2 ous system resulting in distinctive lesions in the 

3 brain; and 

4 (B) belongs to the group of diseases known 

5 as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, 

6 which group includes scrapie, bovine spongiform 

7 encephalopathy, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. 

8 (2) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’ 

9 means— 

10 (A) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 

11 through the Administrator of the Animal and 

12 Plant Health Inspection Service; and 

13 (B) the Secretary of the Interior, acting 

14 through the Director of the United States Geo15 logical Survey. 

16 (3) ACADEMY.—The term ‘‘Academy’’ means 

17 the National Academy of Sciences. 

18 (4) CERVID.—The term ‘‘cervid’’ means any 

19 species within the family Cervidae. 

Æ 


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