AVDA distributor members were surveyed in December 2005 about how prepared they were to comply with the various pedigree laws that have been enacted in states where they do business. The results show that AVDA members are just beginning to understand the complexity of the problems associated with compliance with a myriad of laws in the states. Forty-five percent of AVDA distributor members responded to the survey.

Fifty-five percent of the distributors who responded said they were not prepared to comply with the pedigree papers requirements in the states where their companies do business. Only 37% of the distributor respondents have an expert on staff to assist them in understanding and implementing pedigree requirements.

Fifty-five percent of respondents are unprepared to meet the individual state license requirements and obtain bonds for each location state where it will be mandated by law. Sixty-four percent of distributors are not willing to pay a third party organization to inspect facilities annually to comply with new laws.

An overwhelming 91% of distributors are concerned about how these laws could impact the veterinary industry, but 64% do not feel they are prepared to educate the veterinarian on how to comply with pedigree laws. These same distributors would like AVDA to form a committee to better understand the challenges distribution is facing and to work with state law makers to address their concerns.

Comments from the survey included the following:

We need to work to try to keep veterinary distribution excluded from these laws or need to push to have one uniform law that is covered nationally and not 50 individual state laws that require bonds. This is very difficult and expensive to cover and in the long run the expense would probably be passed to the customer.

The myriad of state regulations is a nearly impossible task to maintain. I would like to see a move towards a more standardized federal program versus today’s fragmented and inconsistent state regulations.

AVDA will be hosting a panel on Pedigree Laws at the Annual Conference on April 25 to discuss what distributor members are doing to comply with existing laws and what is on the horizon in other states. Included in the panel are George Miller, Regulatory Affairs Manager, Butler Animal Health Supply; Randy Lewis, Manager of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs, MWI Veterinary Supply; Nancy Lanis, Vice President, Regulatory & Legal Affairs, Government Affairs, Henry Schein and Ross McSwain, Attorney, Blank, Meenan & Dunphy, Tallahassee, Florida. We look forward to your active participation in this panel discussion at the conference.