TENNESSEE Rabies Laws--ACTION ALERT!!

[Kris Christine]

Tennessee dog owners have launched an effort to change the annual rabies immunization laws required by various counties in Tennessee to the 3 year standard recommended by the CDC's National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians and The American Veterinary Medical Association (see letter below from professional dog trainer, Jan Casey). I will be writing in a letter of support soon as well.

What You Can Do to Help

Send an e-mail to the contacts below -- it's easy to copy and paste addresses into an e-mail. If you're ambitious, please phone some of the contacts or fax them a letter, and circulate this message to all of your dog-owning contacts and ask them to help the dogs of Tennessee by sending an e-mail to request a change in rabies immunization protocol from a 1 year to the national 3 year standard.

Cookeville Contacts City of Cookeville - Welcome to Cookeville! Mayor Sam Sallee mayor@cookeville-tn.org Phone: 931-520-5241 City Manager Jim Shipley jshipley@cookeville-tn.org Phone: 931-526-9591 Fax: 931-526-4897 Cookeville City Council Members:mayor@cookeville-tn.org; jshipley@cookeville-tn.org; jdavis@cookeville-tn.org; rshelton@cookeville-tn.org; aanderson@cookeville-tn.org; rwilliams@cookeville-tn.org; clm@cookeville-tn.org

Putnam County Contacts County Executive: Kim Blaylock debby@putnamco.org 300 E. Spring Street Room 8, Cookeville, TN 38501 Phone: (931) 526-2161 Fax: : (931) 528-1300 County Attorney Jeffrey G. Jones, 1420 Neal Street, Cookeville, TN 38501; Phone: 931-372-9123, Fax: (932) 372-9181

Many thanks for assisting the dogs in your own and other states! Your efforts helped defeat a proposed change in Maine's laws and are making the change to a 3 year protocol in Cheyenne possible and may also result in Wichita switching to the 3 year standard (negotiations are encouraging on that front). Excellent work!

PERMISSION GRANTED TO CROSS-POST THIS MESSAGE

From: Jan Casey
To: mayor@cookeville-tn.org; jshipley@cookeville-tn.org; jdavis@cookeville-tn.org; rshelton@cookeville-tn.org; aanderson@cookeville-tn.org; rwilliams@cookeville-tn.org; debby@putnamco.org; rep.henry.fincher@legislature.state.tn.us
Cc: ron.wilson@state.tn.us; bob.mcmillan@herald-citizen.com
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 12:06 PM
Subject: rabies vaccination protocol

Dear Sirs/Madams:

I am writing to you to request a change in the rabies immunization requirements in Cookeville and Putnam County. Having recently changed veterinary services from Overton County to Putnam County, I was astounded to find that this county still mandates a yearly rabies vaccination rather than the three year of surrounding counties. I am writing to you to request you review and change this policy and adopt the national 3 year standard. As a dog trainer, board member for the Friends of the Cookeville/Putnam County Animals, and advocate for healthy dogs, I ask you to review the current facts available on this topic.

I will begin with the fact that the State of Tennessee, after thorough review of studies done nationwide by leading veterinary vaccine research scientists and universities, has deemed the three year rabies vaccination to be effective in preventing the spread of rabies. The annual rabies vaccine now given is simply a three year vaccine that has been relabeled for 1 year use. The University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine and Dr. Ronald Schultz of this school have determined “There is no benefit from the annual rabies vaccination and most one year rabies products are similar or identical to the 3-year products with regard to duration of immunity and effectiveness.” Likewise, the CDC's National Association of State Public Health Veterinarian's 2008 Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control states "Vaccines used in state and local rabies control programs should have at least a 3-year duration of immunity. ....... No laboratory or epidemiologic data exist to support the annual or biennial administration of 3- or 4-year vaccines following the initial series. ....All vaccines must be administered in accordance with the specifications of the product label or package insert."

My request for the change in the vaccination protocol stems from the fact that the rabies vaccine carries significant adverse reactions due to its potency. According to a review of literature by the Rabies Challenge Fund, autoimmune diseases may result that affect the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, liver, kidney, bowel, and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; aggression; seizures; epilepsy; and fibrosarcomas at the injection sites. All have been linked to the rabies vaccination.
Also noted is the fact that rabies vaccines include aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, and aluminum potassium. These ingredients are listed as Class III/IV carcinogens with Class IV being the highest risk. The August 2003 Journal of Veterinary Medicine documents fibrosarcomas at the presumed injection sites of rabies vaccines. The 2003 AAHA Canine Vaccine Guidelines state “…killed vaccines are much more likely to cause hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., immune-mediated disease.)”

Obviously, the dangers involved in over-vaccinating our dogs far outweighs other considerations for retaining the yearly vaccinations. I respectfully request that Putnam County follow the State of Tennessee guidelines to require the three year rabies vaccination protocol for the well-being of our dogs. Please contact me if you require more information.

Respectfully,

Jan Casey, Dog owner, trainer, and Board Member of the Friends of the Cookeville/Putnam Co. Animals

Resources for more information:

1] Center for Disease Control’s National Association of State Public Health Veterinarian's Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control http://www.nasphv.org/Documents/RabiesCompendium.pdf

[2]The American Veterinary Medical Association’s 2007 RABIES VACCINATION PROCEDURES The 2006 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines are downloadable in PDF format at About AAHA

[3] What Everyone Needs to Know about Canine Vaccines, Dr. Ronald Schultz http://www.puliclub.org/CHF/AKC2007C...20Vaccines.htm

Duration of Immunity to Canine Vaccines: What We Know and Don't Know, Dr. Ronald Schultz Duration of Immunity

World Small Animal Veterinary Association 2007 Vaccine Guidelines - WSAVA - Scientific Advisory Committee Scroll down to Vaccine Guidelines 2007 (PDF)

[4] IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans: Volume 74, World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Feb. 23-Mar. 2, 1999, p. 24, 305, 310

[5] Fibrosarcomas at Presumed Sites of Injection in Dogs: Characteristics and Comparison with Non-vaccination Site Fibrosarcomas and Feline Post-vaccinal Fibrosarcomas; Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series A August 2003, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 286-291(6)

[6] The 2003 American Animal Hospital Association's Canine Vaccine Guidelines are accessible online at Special Report
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________
[b]TENNESSEE LEGISLATURE Welcome to the Tennessee General Assembly

[Sookie]

I hope it passes.

[Kris Christine]

We're working on it! I'll keep you updated.

[Kris Christine]

Below is a copy of the letter I have just sent to Tennessee's Governor and Attorney General regarding the state's rabies immunization protocol for dogs.

What You Can Do to Help

Contact the following:

Governor Bredesen phil.bredesen@state.tn.us Phone: 615.741.2001 Fax: 615.532.9711
Attorney General Cooper Phone: 615-741-3491 615/741-5860 Fax: 615/741-2009
Mr. Bernie Rhoades, Tennessee Department of Health Bernie.Rhoades@state.tn.us Phone: (615) 741-8539
Dr. John Dunn, Tennessee Department of Health John.Dunn@state.tn.us Phone: 615.741.7247
Your Legislator Tennessee Legislature Welcome to the Tennessee General Assembly (full list of TN legislators e-mails in my original post above, just copy and paste)

PERMISSION GRANTED TO CROSS-POST

May 12, 2008

Governor Phil Bredesen Attorney General Robert E. Cooper, Jr.
Tennessee State Capitol P.O. Box 20207
Nashville, TN 37243-0001 Nashville, TN 37202-0207

RE: Tennessee’s Anti-Rabies Law, Title 68 Chapter 8

Greetings Governor Bredesen and General Cooper:

Tennessee’s state anti-rabies law, Title 68 Chapter 8 Section 103 (i) declares that “Nothing in this section shall be construed to require more frequent rabies vaccinations or a greater number of rabies vaccinations than are required by the rabies compendium,” and defines the “compendium” under Section 102 (3) as “the most recent issue of the national ‘Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control’ published by the Association of State Public Health Veterinarians..”

The National Association of State Public Health Veterinarian’s (NASPHV) Compendium of Rabies Prevention and Control promulgated in Tennessee’s anti-rabies law declares that “All vaccines must be administered in accordance with the specifications of the product label or package insert. …. Vaccines used in state and local rabies control programs should have at least a 3-year duration of immunity. ….. No laboratory or epidemiologic data exist to support the annual or biennial administration of 3- or 4-year vaccines following the initial series.”[1] The American Veterinary Medical Association also endorses NASPHV’s Compendium[2] which is incorporated into Tennessee’s law.

Confusion ensues and Tennessee dogs are inappropriately vaccinated when counties, towns, and veterinarians arbitrarily override the directives of Title 68 Chapter 8 by requiring annual rabies boosters after the initial puppy series. In a May 9th phone conversation, Mr. Bernie Rhoades of the Tennessee Department of Health told me that the media is responsible for spreading the fallacy that Tennessee law requires annual rabies boosters. While speaking later that day with Dr. John Dunn, State Medical Epidemiologist and DVM, he stated that he and the public officials favor the 3 year protocol in Tennessee’s law and that veterinarians are responsible for overriding the law in Davidson County. Random compliance with the state law means that some Tennessee dogs are subjected to a rabies vaccination protocol that directly conflicts with the recommendations of two of the country’s top veterinary medical associations -- the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians and the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Medically unnecessary annual rabies vaccinations put dogs at needless risk of adverse reactions without boosting immunity, and it obligates Tennessee pet owners to pay for veterinary procedures from which their animals derive no benefit, and which may cause permanent harm. The American Veterinary Medical Association's 2001 Principles of Vaccination state that “Unnecessary stimulation of the immune system does not result in enhanced disease resistance, and may increase the risk of adverse post-vaccination events.”[3]

Many, if not all, annual rabies vaccines are the 3 year vaccine relabeled for annual use -- Colorado State University's Small Animal Vaccination Protocol for its veterinary teaching hospital states: “Even with rabies vaccines, the label may be misleading in that a three year duration of immunity product may also be labeled and sold as a one year duration of immunity product.” According to Dr. Ronald Schultz, Chair of the Department of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, “There is no benefit from annual rabies vaccination and most one year rabies products are similar or identical to the 3-year products with regard to duration of immunity and effectiveness.”[4]

Immunologically, the rabies vaccine is the most potent of the veterinary vaccines as well as being a “killed,” adjuvanted vaccine associated with clinically significant, sometimes lethal, adverse reactions (death was reported to the Center for Veterinary Biologics in 5.5% of dogs experiencing adverse reactions to the rabies vaccine between 4/20/04 and 3/31/07)[5]. In 1999, the World Health Organization "classified veterinary vaccine adjuvants as Class III/IV carcinogens with Class IV being the highest risk,"[6] and the results of a study published in the August 2003 Journal of Veterinary Medicine documenting fibrosarcomas at the presumed injection sites of rabies vaccines reported, “In both dogs and cats, the development of necrotizing panniculitis at sites of rabies vaccine administration was first observed by Hendrick & Dunagan (1992).”[7] According to the 2003 American Animal Hospital Association’s Canine Vaccine Guidelines, "...killed vaccines are much more likely to cause hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., immune-mediated disease)."[8]

Adverse reactions such as polyneuropathy “resulting in muscular atrophy, inhibition or interruption of neuronal control of tissue and organ function, incoordination, and weakness,”[9] auto-immune hemolytic anemia,[10] autoimmune diseases affecting the thyroid, joints, blood, eyes, skin, kidney, liver, bowel and central nervous system; anaphylactic shock; aggression; seizures; epilepsy; and fibrosarcomas at injection sites are linked to the rabies vaccine.[11] [12] It is medically unsound for this vaccine to be given more often than is necessary to maintain immunity.

Tennessee state law, Title 68 Chapter 8, should be consistently enforced statewide. Individual veterinarians, town and county officials should not arbitrarily override the section of the law pertaining to the rabies immunization protocol for dogs. Not only is it medically inappropriate, but the practice of vaccinating dogs annually against rabies after the puppy series may violate Tennessee’s Consumer Protection Laws; and veterinarians promoting such procedures may be engaged in Unprofessional Conduct as defined in Rule 1730-1-.13 (9) under the General Rules Governing Veterinarians disseminated by the Tennessee State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, as well as breaching Rule 1730-1-.02 (c).

I strongly urge you to review Tennessee’s Anti-Rabies Law and draft legislation to close any legal loopholes in the language which allow for arbitrary adherence. If you have any questions or would like further information, my contact information is below.

Respectfully submitted,
Kris L. Christine
Founder, Co-Trustee
THE RABIES CHALLENGE FUND

cc: Mr. Bernie Rhoades, Tennessee Department of Health
Dr. John Dunn, Tennessee Department of Health
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[1] National Association of State Public Health Veterinarian's 2008 Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control, pp. 3, 6-7
[2] American Veterinary Medical Association 2007 RABIES VACCINATION PROCEDURES, p. 11
[3] AVMA, Principles
[4] Schultz, R.; What Everyone Needs to Know About Canine Vaccines and Vaccination Programs, October 2007, p. 3
[5] Frana, T. et als, Postmarketing Surveillance of Rabies Vaccines for Dogs to Evaluate Safety and Efficacy, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association April 1, 2008 issue, Vol. 232, No. 7, p. 1001
[6] IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans: Volume 74, World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Feb. 23-Mar. 2, 1999, p. 24, 305, 310.
[7] Vascelleri, M. Fibrosarcomas at Presumed Sites of Injection in Dogs: Characteristics and Comparison with Non-vaccination Site Fibrosarcomas and Feline Post-vaccinal Fibrosarcomas; Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Series A August 2003, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 286-291(6)
[8] Report of the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) Canine Vaccine Task Force: 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature, p. 16
[9] Dodds, W. Jean Vaccination Protocols for Dogs Predisposed to Vaccine Reactions, The Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, May/June 2001, Vol. 37, pp. 211-214
[10] Duval D., Giger U.Vaccine-Associated Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia in the Dog, Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 1996; 10:290-295
[11] American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Executive Board, April 2001, Principles of Vaccination, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Volume 219, No. 5, September 1, 2001.
[12] Vascelleri, M. Fibrosarcomas 286-291(6)

[Kris Christine]

TENNESSEE Rabies Laws--New Yahoo Group Formed

A new Yahoo Group, RabiesVaccinationChallengeinTN, has been formed RabiesVaccinationChallengeinTN : Rabies Vaccination Challenge in TN .

This list is intended for those interested in taking action to prompt the State of Tennessee close the loophole in the law that allows counties and veterinarians to override the state's anti-rabies law, Title 68, Chapter 8 which specifies a 3 year rabies vaccine to be given no more often than once every 3 years. This group seeks to raise awareness about the known duration of immunity of the rabies vaccine, the adverse reactions associated with it, and to ensure that Tennessee's anti-rabies law calling for a 3 year rabies vaccine is consistently enforced statewide.

[Kparrott]

I had to take my 1.5 year old Tyson to UT Knoxville for a mass due to trauma and materials present in the vaccine that elicit an immune response. We thought it was cancer but thank God it was this. Other states have the 3year shot we must stand together to protect our babies! I was so shocked to find out that this was happening I had no idea.

[Kris Christine]

Kparrott,

The State of Tennessee has a 3 year rabies protocol, a lot of dog owners are unaware of that and have been misinformed by their veterinary care providers. If you have a question about it, contact the State Public Health Veterinarian, Dr. John Dunn, Tennessee Department of Health John.Dunn@state.tn.us Phone: 615.741.7247 .