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WYOMING Rabies Laws--ACTION ALERT!!!

K

Kris Christine

Active member
WYOMING Rabies Laws

Following a 3/22/08 article entitled Vaccine overkill? in the Wyoming News http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2008/03/23/local_news_updates/19local_03-23-08.txt by Baylie Davis and inspired by encouraging developments in Kansas, Wyoming dog breeders have contacted Wyoming's Governor, Attorney General as well as the Mayor of Cheyenne imploring the state to adopt the national standard of a 3 year rabies vaccination protocol. They need your assistance to help them get the annual rabies booster ordinances in the state changed.

What You Can Do To Help

Please contact any/or all of the Wyoming public officials listed below. You can copy and paste e-mail addresses listed. I will be sending a letter of support as well and will keep you updated on developments. After the Wyoming contact list, there will be updated information on rabies law efforts in Kansas and Arkansas as well.

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Wyoming Contacts

Attorney General Bruce A. Salzburg Phone: (307) 777-7841 Fax: (307) 777-6869; Consumer Protection Division 307-777-7874 or 1-800-438-5799 Fax: 307-777-7956 [email protected]

Governor Dave Freudenthal Phone: 307-777-7434 Fax: 307-632-3909 (fax) [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Cheyenne Mayor Jack Spiker [email protected] Phone: (307) 637-6200; Fax: (307)637-6378; City Council: [email protected] Phone: (307) 637-6357 Fax: (307)637-6356 [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Wyoming Legislators

http://legisweb.state.wy.us/email/email.htm [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Kansas Rabies Law Update & Arkansas Dog Owners Organizing to Challenge Arkansas Rabies Laws

Kansas: Dog owners have started a petition to get annual rabies laws in the state changed to the national 3 year standard. They are planning to have petitions available for dog owners to sign at the upcoming Yappy Days event on March 29th from 9-4 at the Kansas Coliseum, Pavilion II http://www.kzsn.com/cc-common/mainheadlines2.html?feed=107458&article=3323054 . The petition is posted online at http://www.thepetitionsite.com:80/1/Stop-Over-Vaccination-in-Wichita . Activities in Kansas were sparked by a March 18, 2008 article in the Wichita Eagle entitled, Are Annual Shots a Risk for Dogs? http://www.kansas.com/news/story/344780.html by Diane McCartney.

Arkansas: Dog owners are organizing to change their annual rabies laws. A Yahoo group, Arkansas Rabies Vaccine Info http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ARVaccineInfo has been started to coordinate efforts, please join if you are interested.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wichita to Form Rabies Vaccination Committee

I received the notice below on March 25, 2008. How unfortunate that Wichita is not including a member of their dog-owning public on this committee.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Kay Johnson, Director of Environmental Services, 268-8351

City to Form Rabies Vaccination Committee

The City of Wichita is forming an ad hoc committee to review the schedule for rabies vaccinations, Interim Wichita City Manager Ed Flentje announced on Tuesday

The committee will review the latest information on rabies prevention and control and make recommendations, said Kay Johnson, Director of Environmental Services.

Committee members will be announced at a later date

“The committee will be primarily comprised of local veterinarians and public health officials,” Johnson said. “Rabies is a very serious issue and potentially fatal. We want to make sure that people and pets are protected.”

The committee recommendations will be provided to the City Manager as part of a broader and ongoing animal ordinance review. The ordinance review is scheduled to be presented to the Wichita City Council later this year.

For further questions, Johnson can be reached at [email protected] or 268-8351.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you all for your incredible efforts in Maine and Kansas! You are making a huge difference in the lives of dogs everywhere. You are proving Margaret Mead correct when she said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Regards, Kris
 
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Update--Wyoming Rabies Laws

To update you on Wyoming, below is a copy of a letter I sent on March 30th to state officials.

On Thursday, I had an e-mail from Representative Sue Wallis [email protected] , who said, The Wyoming Legislature has no intention of usurping what rightfully belongs to the cities, towns, and counties. I do not know if she is reflecting the sentiment of all members of Wyoming's Legislature, but it certainly is contrary to the declaration she makes on her website www.wallis.vcn.com that With hard work, and your help, I know that we will be able to accomplish good legislation, and hopefully argue against that which is unnecessary, expensive, unproductive or harmful to the citizens of Campbell County and the State of Wyoming.

Kris


March 30, 2008

Governor Dave Freudenthal Attorney General Bruce A. Salzburg
State Capitol, 200 West 24th Street State Capitol, 200 West 24th Street
Cheyenne, WY 82002-0010 Cheyenne, WY 82002-0010


RE: WYOMING’S ANNUAL RABIES LAWS/ORDINANCES

Greetings Governor Freudenthal and General Salzburg:

The time for Wyoming to adopt a uniform, state-wide 3 year canine rabies immunization protocol conforming to the national standard is long overdue. Scientific data demonstrating a minimum duration of immunity for the canine rabies vaccine of 3 years by challenge and 7 years serologically was incorporated into the 2003 American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines more than 5 years ago.

Because the rabies vaccine is the most potent of the veterinary vaccines and associated with significant adverse reactions, it should not be given more often than is necessary to maintain immunity. Adverse reactions such as autoimmune diseases affecting the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; aggression; seizures; epilepsy; and fibrosarcomas at injection sites are linked to rabies vaccinations.

The rabies is a “killed” vaccine and contains adjuvants to enhance the immunological response. In 1999, the World Health Organization " classified veterinary vaccine adjuvants as Class III/IV carcinogens with Class IV being the highest risk," [1] and the results of a study published in the August 2003 Journal of Veterinary Medicine documenting fibrosarcomas at the presumed injection sites of rabies vaccines stated, “In both dogs and cats, the development of necrotizing panniculitis at sites of rabies vaccine administration was first observed by Hendrick & Dunagan (1992).” [2] According to the 2003 American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines, "...killed vaccines are much more likely to cause hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., immune-mediated disease)."

Many, if not all, annual rabies vaccines are the 3 year vaccine relabeled for annual use -- Colorado State University's Small Animal Vaccination Protocol for its veterinary teaching hospital states: “Even with rabies vaccines, the label may be misleading in that a three year duration of immunity product may also be labeled and sold as a one year duration of immunity product.” Wyoming city laws/ordinances requiring annual rabies boosters do not enhance an animal’s immunity and needlessly expose dogs to the risk of adverse reactions. The American Veterinary Medical Association's 2001 Principles of Vaccination state that “Unnecessary stimulation of the immune system does not result in enhanced disease resistance, and may increase the risk of adverse post-vaccination events.”

Of importance to policy makers is data indicating that compliance rates are no higher in states with annual rabies immunization requirements than in those with triennial protocols. A 2002 report compiled by the Banfield Corporation for the Texas Department of Health on rabies vaccination rates determined that a “comparison of the one-year states and the three-year states demonstrates no difference in the delinquency rates” and that, “A paucity of scientific data exists to demonstrate a clear public health benefit of a one-year vaccination protocol versus a three-year vaccination protocol.” [3]

The Center for Disease Control’s National Association of State Public Health Veterinarian's Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control 2007 recommends that: "Vaccines used in state and local rabies-control programs should have at least a 3-year minimum duration of immunity.” They state further that, “No laboratory or epidemiologic data exist to support the annual or biennial administration of 3- or 4-year vaccines following the initial series.”

Medical, epidemiological, and scientific data, as well as the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control’s National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians’ Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control 2007 and the American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines for 2003 and 2006 evidence the need for Wyoming to revise its state-wide rabies immunization requirements for dogs by adopting the national 3 year standard in all municipalities.

Perhaps Attorney General Salzburg’s department could issue a legal opinion on whether or not municipalities with annual rabies vaccination requirements are violating Wyoming’s consumer protection laws by mandating that dog owners pay for yearly veterinary procedures from which their animals derive no benefit.

I strongly urge you to conform all of the state’s rabies immunization requirements to the 3 year standard so that Wyoming dogs are no longer put at unnecessary risk of harmful side affects by being forced to receive medically unwarranted annual rabies boosters.

Sincerely,

Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND
www.RabiesChallengeFund.org

cc: Cheynne Mayor Jack Spiker
Cheyenne City Council
Director of Department of Agriculture, John Etchepare
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture, Jason Fearneyhough
Wyoming Legislature

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans: Volume 74, World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Feb. 23-Mar. 2, 1999, p. 24, 305, 310.

[2] Fibrosarcomas at Presumed Sites of Injection in Dogs: Characteristics and Comparison with Non-vaccination Site Fibrosarcomas and Feline Post-vaccinal Fibrosarcomas; Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series A August 2003, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 286-291(6)

[3] The White Paper, Texas Department of Public Health, Zoonosis Control, Options for Rabies Vaccination of Dogs and Cats in Texas, 2002
 
Update--Wyoming Rabies Laws

Udate -- WYOMING RABIES LAWS

To update you on Wyoming, below is a copy of a letter I sent on March 30th to state officials.

On Thursday, I had an e-mail from Representative Sue Wallis [email protected] , who said, "The Wyoming Legislature has no intention of usurping what rightfully belongs to the cities, towns, and counties." I do not know if she is reflecting the sentiment of all members of Wyoming's Legislature, but it certainly is contrary to the declaration she makes on her website www.wallis.vcn.com that With hard work, and your help, I know that we will be able to accomplish good legislation, and hopefully argue against that which is unnecessary, expensive, unproductive or harmful to the citizens of Campbell County and the State of Wyoming.

The following quote is from the Center for Disease Control's MMWR Recommendations and Reports March 22, 1991/40(RR03);1-19 Rabies Prevention-- United States, 1991 Recommendations of the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00041987.htm

"A fully vaccinated dog or cat is unlikely to become infected with rabies, although rare cases have been reported (48). In a nationwide study of rabies among dogs and cats in 1988, only one dog and two cats that were vaccinated contracted rabies (49). All three of these animals had received only single doses of vaccine; no documented vaccine failures occurred among dogs or cats that had received two vaccinations. " .


March 30, 2008

Governor Dave Freudenthal Attorney General Bruce A. Salzburg
State Capitol, 200 West 24th Street State Capitol, 200 West 24th Street
Cheyenne, WY 82002-0010 Cheyenne, WY 82002-0010


RE: WYOMING’S ANNUAL RABIES LAWS/ORDINANCES

Greetings Governor Freudenthal and General Salzburg:

The time for Wyoming to adopt a uniform, state-wide 3 year canine rabies immunization protocol conforming to the national standard is long overdue. Scientific data demonstrating a minimum duration of immunity for the canine rabies vaccine of 3 years by challenge and 7 years serologically was incorporated into the 2003 American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines more than 5 years ago.

Because the rabies vaccine is the most potent of the veterinary vaccines and associated with significant adverse reactions, it should not be given more often than is necessary to maintain immunity. Adverse reactions such as autoimmune diseases affecting the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; aggression; seizures; epilepsy; and fibrosarcomas at injection sites are linked to rabies vaccinations.

The rabies is a “killed” vaccine and contains adjuvants to enhance the immunological response. In 1999, the World Health Organization " classified veterinary vaccine adjuvants as Class III/IV carcinogens with Class IV being the highest risk," [1] and the results of a study published in the August 2003 Journal of Veterinary Medicine documenting fibrosarcomas at the presumed injection sites of rabies vaccines stated, “In both dogs and cats, the development of necrotizing panniculitis at sites of rabies vaccine administration was first observed by Hendrick & Dunagan (1992).” [2] According to the 2003 American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines, "...killed vaccines are much more likely to cause hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., immune-mediated disease)."

Many, if not all, annual rabies vaccines are the 3 year vaccine relabeled for annual use -- Colorado State University's Small Animal Vaccination Protocol for its veterinary teaching hospital states: “Even with rabies vaccines, the label may be misleading in that a three year duration of immunity product may also be labeled and sold as a one year duration of immunity product.” Wyoming city laws/ordinances requiring annual rabies boosters do not enhance an animal’s immunity and needlessly expose dogs to the risk of adverse reactions. The American Veterinary Medical Association's 2001 Principles of Vaccination state that “Unnecessary stimulation of the immune system does not result in enhanced disease resistance, and may increase the risk of adverse post-vaccination events.”

Of importance to policy makers is data indicating that compliance rates are no higher in states with annual rabies immunization requirements than in those with triennial protocols. A 2002 report compiled by the Banfield Corporation for the Texas Department of Health on rabies vaccination rates determined that a “comparison of the one-year states and the three-year states demonstrates no difference in the delinquency rates” and that, “A paucity of scientific data exists to demonstrate a clear public health benefit of a one-year vaccination protocol versus a three-year vaccination protocol.” [3]

The Center for Disease Control’s National Association of State Public Health Veterinarian's Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control 2007 recommends that: "Vaccines used in state and local rabies-control programs should have at least a 3-year minimum duration of immunity.” They state further that, “No laboratory or epidemiologic data exist to support the annual or biennial administration of 3- or 4-year vaccines following the initial series.”

Medical, epidemiological, and scientific data, as well as the recommendations of the Center for Disease Control’s National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians’ Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control 2007 and the American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines for 2003 and 2006 evidence the need for Wyoming to revise its state-wide rabies immunization requirements for dogs by adopting the national 3 year standard in all municipalities.

Perhaps Attorney General Salzburg’s department could issue a legal opinion on whether or not municipalities with annual rabies vaccination requirements are violating Wyoming’s consumer protection laws by mandating that dog owners pay for yearly veterinary procedures from which their animals derive no benefit.

I strongly urge you to conform all of the state’s rabies immunization requirements to the 3 year standard so that Wyoming dogs are no longer put at unnecessary risk of harmful side affects by being forced to receive medically unwarranted annual rabies boosters.

Sincerely,

Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND

cc: Cheynne Mayor Jack Spiker
Cheyenne City Council
Director of Department of Agriculture, John Etchepare
Deputy Director of Department of Agriculture, Jason Fearneyhough
Wyoming Legislature

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans: Volume 74, World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Feb. 23-Mar. 2, 1999, p. 24, 305, 310.

[2] Fibrosarcomas at Presumed Sites of Injection in Dogs: Characteristics and Comparison with Non-vaccination Site Fibrosarcomas and Feline Post-vaccinal Fibrosarcomas; Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series A August 2003, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 286-291(6)

[3] The White Paper, Texas Department of Public Health, Zoonosis Control, Options for Rabies Vaccination of Dogs and Cats in Texas, 2002


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Wyoming Rabies Laws--Update 4/16/08

WYOMING Rabies Laws--Update

To update you on efforts to change Wyoming's rabies laws, on Saturday April 12, 2008, an article entitled Changes to Vaccine Ordinance Unlikely http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2008/04/13/news/19local_04-13-08.txt was published in the Wyoming News.

Below is a copy of a letter to the editor I sent to the paper this morning.

What You Can Do To Help

1.) Contact Cheyenne Mayor Jack Spiker [email protected] Phone: (307) 637-6200; Fax: (307)637-6378

2.) Leave a comment on the newspaper article at http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2008/04/13/news/19local_04-13-08.txt

3.) Write a letter to the editor of the Wyoming News (Scott Smith) [email protected] Fax: 307-633-3189

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April 14, 2008

To the Editor:

There are a number of issues in the April 12, 2008 article entitled Changes to Vaccine Ordinance Unlikely that need to be addressed.

The state veterinarian, Dr. Walter Cook, seems to be unaware that the national organization of which he is supposed to be a member, the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians (NASPHV), currently recommends a 3 year rabies vaccination protocol in their 2008 Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control and has done so since at least 2001. The American Veterinary Medical Association also endorses the NASPHV’s 3 year rabies immunization protocol.

Contrary to Dr. Cook’s statement, veterinarians are not required to report adverse reactions to vaccines and the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) stated in 2007 there is “gross under-reporting of vaccine-associated adverse events which impedes knowledge of the ongoing safety of these products.” In an article entitled, A New Approach to Reporting Medication and Device Adverse Effects and Product Problems, (JAMA - June 2, 1993. Vol.269, No.21) Dr. David Kessler, former head of the Food & Drug Administration, reported that "only about 1% of serious events are reported to the FDA."

Studies demonstrating long-term (more than 3 years) duration of immunity for the canine rabies vaccine have already been published. In 1992, a French research team led by Michel Aubert published the results of a rabies challenge study in Scientific Technical Review (Rev. sci.tech. Off. int. Epiz.) 1992, 11 (3), 735-760 in which they demonstrated that dogs were immune to a rabies challenge 5 years after vaccination. The serological studies of Dr. Ronald Schultz of the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine showed that dogs had antibody titers counts at levels known to confer immunity to rabies 7 years after vaccination, the results of which have been incorporated into the 2003, 2006 American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines as well as WSAVA’s 2007 Vaccine Guidelines.

Because the rabies vaccine is the most potent of the veterinary vaccines and associated with significant adverse reactions, it should not be given more often than is necessary to maintain immunity. Adverse reactions such as autoimmune diseases affecting the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; aggression; seizures; epilepsy; and fibrosarcomas at injection sites are linked to rabies vaccinations.

Rabies is a “killed” vaccine and contains adjuvants to enhance the immunological response. Mercury (Thimersol) is commonly found as a preservative in killed, adjuvanted veterinary vaccines such as Rabies, Leptospira, and Lyme. The combination of mercury with adjuvant components (aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate) are of considerable concern because of the reactive properties of aluminum, when in contact with mercury. Reactivity with aluminum is so acute that mercury may not be packed in checked or carry-on baggage on commercial airplanes, and there is currently a petition to Congress, Petition to Congress, Removal of Aluminum Additive in Vaccines Resolution and Petition, citing as cause for removing aluminum in human vaccines that: "The combination of mercury plus aluminum is far worse than the sum of the two toxicities added together. The synergistic toxicity could be increased to unknown levels."

In 1999, the World Health Organization "classified veterinary vaccine adjuvants as Class III/IV carcinogens with Class IV being the highest risk," and the results of a study published in the August 2003 Journal of Veterinary Medicine documenting fibrosarcomas at the presumed injection sites of rabies vaccines stated, “In both dogs and cats, the development of necrotizing panniculitis at sites of rabies vaccine administration was first observed by Hendrick & Dunagan (1992).” According to the 2003 American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines, "...killed vaccines are much more likely to cause hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., immune-mediated disease)."

A clarification on the Postmarketing Surveillance of Rabies Vaccines for Dogs to Evaluate Safety and Efficacy referenced in the story. Only the 246 adverse reactions to the rabies vaccine reported directly to the Center for Veterinary Biologics by the public, veterinarians, and pet owners had 72% of the dogs receiving other vaccines or drugs at the same time as the rabies shot. That is not stated to be the case further on in the report where they discuss the 10,000 adverse reactions reported by the rabies vaccine manufacturers, 65% of which were in dogs.

If the 6,500 of canine adverse rabies vaccine reactions reported by the vaccine manufacturers represents "only about 1% of serious events are reported to the FDA,” then that would translate into 650,000 if all reactions were reported.

Cheyenne Mayor Jack Spiker and State Public Health Veterinarian, Dr. Cook, should be guided by the recommendations of the CDC’s National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians and the American Veterinary Medical Association to determine the state’s and city’s rabies immunization protocols rather than seeking the advice of local animal shelters and veterinary practitioners to determine appropriate protocols

Sincerely,
Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND
 
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