If Passed, State Bills Could Have Large,
Long-Term Effects On Animal Boarders, Farriers
Farmers Who Care For Own Animals Not Affected
(Continued from Page A 1)
Committee on Professional Licen
sure May 4, if the bill would be
enacted into law, in its current ver
sion, those even applying
“ . . . therapeutic or diagnostic
technique or nutritional substance
or technique on, for, or to any ani
mal . ■ without being a licensed
veterinarian could face legal
prosecution.
Hers hey is concerned about the
“finite” language of the bill. He
noted that farriers should be allow
ed to continue what they should be
doing by their profession. But die
bill itself “is not near ready to go to
the floor,” he told Lancaster
Farming. Revisions to the bill ate
necessary before it reaches its final
form.
Hershcy noted he has teceived
letters from nurse technicians con
cerned that, in the current wording
of the hill, their own livelihood
could be threatened. The techni
cians were concerned about being
replaced by cheaper labor in the
field, Hershcy indicated.
But farriers should be able to
continue what they are trained to
do and have been allowed to do,
Hershcy noted.
The consequences of having to
be a licensed veterinarian in the
Veterinary Practice Reform Act, to
be able to do even what is consid
ered “normal animal husbandry,”
noted a human chiropractor who
owns horses, “effects a lot of peo
ple,” said Peggy Dillon. “That’s
disturbing to me.”
Notjust those who board horses,
but 4-H project bouders, kennels,
“anybody who takes cate of any
aqimals,” said Dillon, would be
affected.
Some have indicated that people
who board horses or other animals,
including 4-H projects, would be
restricted from attempting any
type of therapies, including admi
nistrating liniment or even giving
animals nutritional supplements,
to animals they don’t own.
This could have a drastic effect
on feed suppliers, nutritionists,
feed mixing companies all
those who don’t use a veterinarian
in the process of providing nutri
tive products to animals that are
boarded.
If passed, the bills may be simi
lar to a state law in Texas that
requires everybody “to get a pre
scription from the vet to buy Vita
min C for a horse, ” said Dillon,
New Egypt, NJ.
The Pennsylvania Veterinary
Medical Association (PVMA) and
American Veterinary Medical
Association (AVMA) are both
pushing for the adoption of the bill,
working with state lobbyists.
According to Dr. Clifford Cum
mings, DVM with Nortfaside Ani
mal Hospital, Bethlehem, a lot of
states are revising their veterinary
practice acts to incorporate much
needed changes. These changes
take into account the new “modali
ties” being practiced, including
animal chiropractic, massage ther
apy, and holistic therapies, to name
a few. To protect consumers, if
animals are being treated with the
new modalities, proper training
and certification may be required.
The PVMA and A VMA needed
to nuke these modifications in
light of recent developments in
treating animals
For farriers, they have always
been and will be continue to be
exempted, even if changes are
adopted to the veterinary practice
act, Cummings indicated. The
Pennsylvania Professional Far
riers Association (PPFA) gave the
proposed changes their “blessing,”
he said.
Mirroring a similar Maryland
bill enacted in the law, the changes
were put in at the request of the
PPFA, according to Cummings.
For other changes, the concern
is relevant, according to several
involved in using the new modali
ties. For one tiling, antibiotics in
feeds are suspected of being a
threat, in some cases, to human
health. How those feed antibiotics
ate to be regulated requites
changes in the veterinary practice
act, according to some practicing
veterinarians. Nutritive substances
include antibiotic and other addi
tives to improve animal health.
The proposed changes could
dramatically effect those not prop
erly trained in animal health care.
“When certain people start to
extricate teeth or give drip lines,
the people are overstepping their
boundary” if they’re not trained,
Cummings noted. This lull takes
into account referrals right now
veterinarians can’t refer “anything
to a human chiropractor,” he said.
Some of those chiropractors are
treating animals at the farm.
According to Dave Duckett,
Ambler, a long-time practicing
farrier, a hearing originally sche
duled for Sept. 21-22 in Seven
Springs, Somerset County, was
rescheduled in Room 461 of the
Capitol Building in Harrisburg
Sept 14-15.
If passed In its current form, the
bill could literally “intrude upon a
person’s freedom and right to
choose” animal care, said Duckett.
A portion of the bill exempts far
riers, but limits their art to
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 4, 1999-A23
horseshoeing only, according to
the proposed changes. But the
work of a farrier is more complex
than merely applying a shoe to a
horse.
Dave Duckett, FWCF, is a long
time farrier. Duckett’s title,
FWCF, means Fellow of Worshi
full Company of Farriers, London,
King’s Charter. He began his farri
er indenture in 1960. In England,
farriers must undergo a four-year
study followed by two years of ser
vice as a journeyman. In his
40-year career, Duckett has been
honored as British, international,
and world horseshoeing
champion.
Duckett indicated that farriery is
the “mother” to the profession of
veterinary science. “It goes back a
lot further that veterinary medi
cine,” he noted, and is the basis of
the veterinary practice. King Char
les lin 1770 chartered the practice.
In the bill itself, farriers ate
already exempt but, to the baf
flement of the farriers, with limits
on top of the exemption.
“Why would they place limits
on something already exempt for
more than 100 years?” said
Duckett
And with the new modal tics,
Duckett said none of them are
taught in vet schools in America.
Those questions would have to
be worked out
According to several legislators,
the bill’s intent was to mote clearly
define the role of veterinarian. The
bill amends the existing act of Dec.
27, 1974 (P.L. 995, No. 326), to
further define the rights, pri
vileges, and powers for the treat
ment of animals.
Some legislators believe the
existence of the bill, according to
Rep. Sheila Miller (R- 129th), a co
sponsor, is to ward off those who
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