Reply #217: The NC AG Dept has the power to change - see this:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

The NC Commissioner of Agriculture is Steve Troxler, a republican.

1001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1001
Phone: [phone]
http://www.ncagr.gov/htm/contactus.htm

From Animal Rescue Groups of NC:

08/14/08

Governor Mike Easley signed the Bill into law which clarifies the statutory authority of the Ag. Department in regard to the administration of the euthanasia rules. This was Senate Bill S485.

This means that Ag. Dept. now has the authority to establish requirements for the certification of employees seeking to be approved to perform euthanasia. This includes the authority to select certification requirements, course materials, trainers, testing, etc.

Loss of certification and re certification is also covered.

There is still a conflict of interest question with trainers like Ralph Houser. He is not a neutral party. He is biased toward gas and teaches students that gas is better than EBI. The reason is he sells gas chambers but he does not sell sodium pentobarbital. He also teaches and approves of methods that do not comply with the AVMA, HSUS, or AHA guidelines. Examples include, gassing any breathing animal and packing animals into a chamber, and not requiring them to be separated from each other.

I believe that Barry Bloch has stated that if Houser states he has a conflict of interest at the beginning of every class he teaches that will make the "conflict of interest" problem disappear. How would anyone know if he informed every class that he had a conflict of interest? I have been told that is not true. We need to get a legal opinion on that question.

The Bill Governor Easley sign into law is needed to make it possible for the Ag. Dept. to implement and enforce the provisions of the 2005 Animal Welfare Act. Hopefully, we can get the euthanasia provisions fine tuned in Jan.

Peter

Peter MacQueen III, President
The Humane Society of Eastern NC
Southport, NC 28461
910-477-0368

http://www.argnc.com/Legislation.html