FOR IMMEDIATE RELASE
Thursday, September 22, 2005

Isakson, Chambliss Announce Agriculture Funds for Athens

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, today announced passage of the Senate fiscal year 2006 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriation bill funding resources for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The legislation includes over $1 million in funding for projects for Athens.

“Georgia as well as the entire nation will benefit from these important investments in the agricultural research being done in Athens,” Isakson said. “I am pleased the Senate saw fit to support these worthy projects."

“These funds will support a wide range of important research projects,” said Chambliss. “As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee I will continue working hard to provide funds that benefit both the state of Georgia and our Nation’s agricultural needs.”

The bill includes $ 625,000 for the Wildlife Gamebird Restoration Project. Lower harvest pressure and continued land changes have allowed predator populations to increase in Georgia while many game and nongame species have declined. This cooperative agreement along with the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forest Resources and other agencies will provide valuable information to landowners striving to preserve an abundance of wildlife for the future.

The bill also provides funds to continue research on avian influenza and avian pneumovirus. The r esearch on aviation influenza will focus on early detection of the transfer of Asian H5N1 avian influenza virus across the Asian-Alaska transcontinental wild bird migratory routes. The avian pneumovirus project will develop a reverse genetic, infectious clone system to produce more effective vaccines against avian pneumovirus.

Additionally, the bill includes $50,000 for a project that will evaluate the frequency of Poultry Enterititis-Mortality Syndrome (PEMS) associated viruses and determine their role in production of PEMS under field conditions, $200,000 for research that will aim to develop a system for rapid response to bioterror agents and $200,000 for a food safety project to develop food animal surveillance and epidemiology programs for swine and poultry.

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