Lawmakers ignite backlash with bill that could undermine disease control efforts: 'This bill compromises the public trust'
According to The Wildlife Society, the Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill on April 15 that will limit state agencies' ability to test, kill, or stop captive deer from being transferred between farms because of chronic wasting disease. It also makes the deer property of the breeder.
There are some exceptions to the bill, including the ability to test if CWD was detected on a farm or in a farm from which the deer was transferred.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, chronic wasting disease is a serious disease that causes death and affects deer, moose, reindeer, and elk. It can be passed through "contact with saliva, blood, urine, or feces of an animal with CWD" and can also be spread through food, water, and soil.
Daniel Greene, a certified wildlife biologist and president of the southeastern section of TWS, believes fencing isn't infallible; wild deer can still come in contact with captive deer. Trees can bring down fences during storms, and wild and captive deer can rub noses with each other.
"This bill compromises the public trust," said a signed opposition letter from TWS, TWS Southeastern Section, the National Deer Association, the nonprofit Boone and Crockett Club, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and the National Wildlife Federation
In Alabama, there are 200 breeders that breed large deer for hunting purposes. They are fenced in, and hunters pay a premium for access.
The TWS Alabama chapter wrote a letter opposing the bill, which said: "This legislation threatens our state's $2 billion hunting industry, which is vital to most of Alabama's rural economies and [the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources'] conservation funding."
Deer can also spread the disease before testing positive, and soil can stay infected for years.
Republican bill sponsor Jeff Sorrells said in an interview with WBMA: "This bill has nothing to do with hunting. It is more about government overreach of a valuable resource for the state of Alabama."
Should the government be able to control how we heat our homes?
Definitely
Only if it saves money
I'm not sure
No way
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
Several wildlife organizations have come forward against the bill. Chris Blankenship, commissioner of the ADCNR, is asking legislators to reject the bill. He said in a statement: "This bill should be disturbing to all ethical sportsmen, hunters, and citizens in Alabama."
Angie Larsen-Gray, a certified wildlife biologist and a TWS Leadership Institute graduate, said there are ways to prevent the disease. However, she said: "It is nearly impossible to get rid of it once it's there."
The National Deer Association has tips for deer hunters, including following local rules and regulations to prevent the spread and reporting sick deer to officials.
It's also vital to explore critical climate issues like this to understand how to combat the problem. If you learn about similar cases that affect your state, you can use your voice by speaking to your local representatives to ensure bills like this don't become law.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
8 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
No, California is not guaranteed to remain an abortion haven
The sudden closure of five Planned Parenthood clinics in Northern California last week reveals a sad, stark truth: California is not the national 'haven' for abortion rights that it has aspired to be since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. No state could be under Republican rule in Washington, or while federal law trumps state law, the Supreme Court majority opposes abortion rights and clinics are reliant on federal money to survive. There are few options to fix this problem, even in California, the world's fourth-largest economy. The state barely covered its budget deficit this year, and it has holes to fill as federal funds for public universities, education, transportation and other sectors were slashed in the recently passed budget. Plus, the state needs federal dollars to help rebuild Los Angeles after the devastating wildfires there earlier this year. Ten million Americans are expected to lose their health insurance because of nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next decade in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Meanwhile, the wealthiest Americans will receive a disproportionate share of the tax cuts funded by those reductions, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. 'It's an illustration of the limits on what any state can do (on abortion access) if the federal government is hostile,' said Mary Ziegler, a professor of law at UC Davis and leading scholar on abortion rights. 'It's more of a reminder that there isn't really a real sanctuary. California has limited power over a lot of this.' It is the latest example of how California is in the political crosshairs of what President Donald Trump's former top adviser Steve Bannon famously described as his 'muzzle velocity' philosophy of launching a lot of disruptive policies and spurious attacks simultaneously. California is withering under the incoming fire. The people hurt most by the closure of those clinics will be the poorest Californians, as 80% of the people who used services at those clinics were Medicaid recipients, according to Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, the umbrella organization for the shuttered clinics. Planned Parenthood doesn't just provide abortion services. The majority of people go to Planned Parenthood clinics for contraceptive services, sexually transmitted infection testing, pregnancy testing and gynecological services. One in 10 (11%) female Medicaid beneficiaries ages 15 to 49 who received family planning services went to a Planned Parenthood clinic in 2021, according to the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. California has the highest percentage (29%) of Medicaid recipients in the country who go there for health care. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go. California was supposed to be a haven for abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Shortly after the decision, Gov. Gavin Newsom joined the governors of Washington and Oregon to create what he called 'the West Coast offensive. A road map for other states to stand up for women.' A diverse coalition of abortion rights advocates formed the California Future of Abortion Council. It proposed more than 50 recommendations for policymakers to improve abortion access in the state. In the year after the decision, Newsom and the Democratic-controlled Legislature created more than a dozen new laws and invested more than $200 million to increase access across the state. In November 2022, 67% of California voters supported a ballot measure enshrining abortion rights in the state Constitution. Newsom spent $100,000 from his campaign coffers to plant billboards in seven states with some of the nation's most restrictive laws: 'Need an abortion?' reads one billboard. 'California is here to help.' 'What you do in California sets the standard for everyone else,' Mini Timmaraju, national president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said at a 2022 fundraiser for Proposition 1 in San Francisco that Hillary Clinton attended. 'I want to take that package of legislation and this proposition and see it copied nationwide.' Ultimately, all those California laws and all that state funding weren't enough to keep the Mar Monte clinics open. They never could be as long as there isn't the national right to an abortion that Roe provided and as long as women's health clinics are reliant on federal funds to remain open. Planned Parenthood estimates that 200 clinics nationwide could close. To meet this reality, California needs a new 'West Coast offensive.' It needs to draw up a new 'road map for other states to stand up for women.' It would be best if clinics were funded privately, insulating them from partisan federal cuts. But that is harder now. California is the state with the most millionaires and billionaires. Now is the time for wealthy individuals and foundations to stand up and backfill these losses so clinics can continue to provide access to women's health care. But will those individuals step forward? Or will they be cowed like the wealthy law firms and Ivy League universities that have bowed to Trump's intimidation? Even if they do step up, is there enough private money in California to keep federally funded women's health clinics open until Democrats regain control of at least one lever of power in Washington and can curb his fascistic policies? That possibility looks bleak. For starters, it would probably require hundreds of millions of dollars, said Shannon Olivieri Hovis, former NARAL Pro-Choice California director who is now vice president of public affairs at Essential Access Health. 'I think the honest answer is, we don't know yet. We're talking about a huge hole.' Theresa Cheng, a professor of emergency medicine at UCSF and a member of the school's Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, said it will be difficult for the private sector to patch up all the new holes punctured in the social safety net by the Trump administration. 'That's going to be really difficult because the Trump administration has cut so broadly in so many social systems,' said Cheng, who is in touch with private donors through her work with several nonprofit organizations. 'Food insecurity. Homelessness. Immigration. There are a lot of needs out there now.' Relying on private donations isn't going to help clinics across California's chasm of wealth inequality, Ziegler said. 'If you're depending partly on individual donors, that's going to look very different in Beverly Hills or Marin County than it is in Gilroy or other areas where there are few people to give private donations,' Ziegler said. Until political change happens in Washington, Cheng urged Californians to 'stay stalwart in protecting reproductive health. So much of this will have to be settled out in the courts. That will at least buy us some more time.'
USA Today
a day ago
- USA Today
A farewell to Ozzy, Coke's sugar high, another vaccine shake-up: The week in review
RFK shakes up vaccines again Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took another step toward overhauling the nation's vaccine policy when he approved the removal of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, from all flu vaccines despite widespread agreement in the medical community that the preservative is safe. Kennedy signed off on a recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel he replaced with his own appointed members in June, to stop distributing vaccines containing thimerosal, which has long been targeted by anti-vaccine groups. An operatic honor for Melania Republican lawmakers are working on a Kennedy Center production of their own: renaming the center's Opera House to the 'First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.' The House Appropriations Committee, whose spending bill funds the iconic performing arts venue in Washington, voted 33-25 for the change. Lawmakers have already agreed to spend $256.7 million on improvements to the center sought by President Donald Trump, who ousted much of the Kennedy Center's board after he took office and appointed himself chairman. He has criticized some of the center's performances and said in one visit that he 'never liked 'Hamilton' very much.' A sweet twist to the Cola wars Cane sugar: It's the real thing. A Coca-Cola made with cane sugar − not high-fructose corn syrup − is coming to the United States this fall, the company announced, just like the Coke you find overseas, including Mexico. (The long-running debate over which tastes better, U.S. Coke or Mexican Coke, has been a fierce one). The news doesn't come as a compete surprise; President Donald Trump had made a case for cane sugar Coke on social media in mid-July − 'You'll see. It's just better!' Also, not to be outdone, Pepsi announced it is launching Pepsi Prebiotic Cola this fall, in Original Cola and Cherry Vanilla, containing 5 grams of cane sugar and 3 grams of prebiotic fiber. Ozzy Osbourne, the 'Prince of Darkness,' is dead The heavy metal world has lost one of its most beloved characters, Ozzy Osbourne, at age 76, only weeks after reuniting with his original band, Black Sabbath, in England for a farewell show. Osbourne, who was infamous for his hard living (and for biting the head off a bat), exploded into stardom in a solo career and later branched into reality TV with MTV's 'The Osbournes' in the early 2000s. In 2020, he revealed he had Parkinson's disease. In a just-announced new memoir, 'Last Rites,' arriving Oct. 7, Osbourne says: 'Look, if it ends tomorrow, I can't complain. I've been all around the world. … I've done good, and I've done bad. But right now, I'm not ready to go anywhere.' Remembering Ozzy Osbourne: Life on the 'Crazy Train': The metal icon through the years All bets for 2026 are on Scottie Scheffler Scottie Scheffler, fresh off a dominating win at the British Open July 20, is at the top of his game, and you can expect he'll be there for awhile. Scheffler, 29, who also captured the PGA Championship in May and now needs only a U.S. Open victory to enter the elite group of golfers who have won the sport's grand slam of all four major championships, is now the odds-on favorite to win every major in 2026, according to BetMGM. Declared the gaming venture's Matt Wall: 'The comparisons with Tiger Woods certainly don't look out of place right now.' − Compiled by Robert Abitbol
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump voters wanted relief from Medical bills. For millions, the bills are about to get bigger
President Trump rode to reelection last fall on voter concerns about prices. But as his administration pares back federal rules and programs designed to protect patients from the high cost of health care, Trump risks pushing more Americans into debt, further straining family budgets already stressed by medical bills. Millions of people are expected to lose health insurance in the coming years as a result of the tax cut legislation Trump signed this month, leaving them with fewer protections from large bills if they get sick or suffer an accident. At the same time, significant increases in health plan premiums on state insurance marketplaces next year will likely push more Americans to either drop coverage or switch to higher-deductible plans that will require them to pay more out-of-pocket before their insurance kicks in. Smaller changes to federal rules are poised to bump up patients' bills, as well. New federal guidelines for COVID -19 vaccines, for example, will allow health insurers to stop covering the shots for millions, so if patients want the protection, some may have to pay out-of-pocket. The new tax cut legislation will also raise the cost of certain doctor visits, requiring copays of up to $35 for some Medicaid enrollees. And for those who do end up in debt, there will be fewer protections. This month, the Trump administration secured permission from a federal court to roll back regulations that would have removed medical debt from consumer credit reports. That puts Americans who cannot pay their medical bills at risk of lower credit scores, hindering their ability to get a loan or forcing them to pay higher interest rates. 'For tens of millions of Americans, balancing the budget is like walking a tightrope,' said Chi Chi Wu, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. 'The Trump administration is just throwing them off.' White House spokesperson Kush Desai did not respond to questions about how the administration's health care policies will affect Americans' medical bills. The president and his Republican congressional allies have brushed off the health care cuts, including hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid retrenchment in the mammoth tax law. 'You won't even notice it,' Trump said at the White House after the bill signing July 4. 'Just waste, fraud, and abuse.' But consumer and patient advocates around the country warn that the erosion of federal health care protections since Trump took office in January threatens to significantly undermine Americans' financial security. 'These changes will hit our communities hard,' said Arika Sánchez, who oversees health care policy at the nonprofit New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. Sánchez predicted many more people the center works with will end up with medical debt. 'When families get stuck with medical debt, it hurts their credit scores, makes it harder to get a car, a home, or even a job,' she said. 'Medical debt wrecks people's lives.' For Americans with serious illnesses such as cancer, weakened federal protections from medical debt pose yet one more risk, said Elizabeth Darnall, senior director of federal advocacy at the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network. 'People will not seek out the treatment they need,' she said. Trump promised a rosier future while campaigning last year, pledging to 'make America affordable again' and 'expand access to new Affordable Healthcare.' Polls suggest voters were looking for relief. About 6 in 10 adults — Democrats and Republicans — say they are worried about being able to afford health care, according to one recent survey, outpacing concerns about the cost of food or housing. And medical debt remains a widespread problem: As many as 100 million adults in the U.S. are burdened by some kind of health care debt. Despite this, key tools that have helped prevent even more Americans from sinking into debt are now on the chopping block. Medicaid and other government health insurance programs, in particular, have proved to be a powerful economic backstop for low-income patients and their families, said Kyle Caswell, an economist at the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Caswell and other researchers found, for example, that Medicaid expansion made possible by the 2010 Affordable Care Act led to measurable declines in medical debt and improvements in consumers' credit scores in states that implemented the expansion. 'We've seen that these programs have a meaningful impact on people's financial well-being,' Caswell said. Trump's tax law — which will slash more than $1 trillion in federal health spending over the next decade, mostly through Medicaid cuts — is expected to leave 10 million more people without health coverage by 2034, according to the latest estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The tax cuts, which primarily benefit wealthy Americans, will add $3.4 trillion to U.S. deficits over a decade, the office calculated. The number of uninsured could spike further if Trump and his congressional allies don't renew additional federal subsidies for low- and moderate-income Americans who buy health coverage on state insurance marketplaces. This aid — enacted under former President Joe Biden — lowers insurance premiums and reduces medical bills enrollees face when they go to the doctor or the hospital. But unless congressional Republicans act, those subsidies will expire later this year, leaving many with bigger bills. Federal debt regulations developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under the Biden administration would have protected these people and others if they couldn't pay their medical bills. The agency issued rules in January that would have removed medical debts from consumer credit reports. That would have helped an estimated 15 million people. But the Trump administration chose not to defend the new regulations when they were challenged in court by debt collectors and the credit bureaus, who argued the federal agency had exceeded its authority in issuing the rules. A federal judge in Texas appointed by Trump ruled that the regulation should be scrapped. Levey writes for KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.
