May 13, 1999
BSE FEED REGULATION TEAM TO RECEIVE VICE PRESIDENTIAL AWARD
On May 14, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)/Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Feed Regulation Team will be honored with Vice President Al Gore's Hammer Award. The BSE Feed Regulation Team is comprised of employees from FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), and AAFCO, an organization that includes officials from all States and the Federal government who are responsible for enforcing the laws regulating the production, labeling, distribution, and/or sale of animal feeds.
The Award will be presented by Yetta Lyle who will be representing the Vice President's National Partnership for Reinventing Government at CVM's 1999 Honor Awards Ceremony. The Awards ceremony will be held from 9:30 - 11:30 a.m., at the Gaithersburg Hilton Hotel, Grand Ballroom, 620 Perry Parkway, in Gaithersburg, MD. The 17 team members who spearheaded the effort will be honored.
The award citation reads, "For making a significant contribution to reducing the possibility of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or 'mad cow disease') becoming established and spread in the U.S." The Team used an innovative education-oriented partnership program to enforce a FDA regulation designed to control BSE. Compliance rates for the first inspections of all but one industry segment equaled or exceeded 75 percent. Compliance rates at follow-up inspections should approach the goal of 100 percent compliance, based on the enforcement strategy developed and updated jointly by the partners. Independent research has shown that major industry adjustments have been made to facilitate compliance with the regulations. FDA and State inspectors have conducted an unprecedented number of education-oriented inspections; a reinvented approach to doing inspections that has resulted in 70 percent savings in the cost of inspections, amounting to $1.3 million in Fiscal Year 1999.
The Hammer Award is the down-to-earth symbol of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, a five-year old, major initiative to make the government work better for less. The program honors Federal employees and their partners who have joined forces to streamline procedures, put consumers first, and help build a better and more cost-effective government.
In addition to a plain carpenter's hammer, the award includes a ribbon and the Vice President's note of appreciation, all set in an aluminum frame. Also, every Team member will receive a personal certificate of appreciation with Al Gore's signature and a lapel hammer pin.
Issued by:
FDA, Center for Veterinary Medicine,
Communications Staff, HFV-12
7519 Standish Place, Rockville, MD 20855
Telephone: (240) 276-9300 FAX: (240) 276-9115
Internet Web Site: http://www.fda.gov/cvm
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