Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

APHIS was created in 1972 by Secretary's Memorandum No. 1769.[1]

The origins of the agency predate creation of USDA, to 1854 when the Office of Entomologist, Agricultural Section, U.S. Patent Office was created. It was the first of three agencies that eventually were merged to form APHIS.[2] In 1881, a Cattle Commission was created in the Department of the Treasury that three years later was transferred to USDA.[2] Plant quarantine functions followed in 1912 when USDA's Federal Horticultural Board was created. Between the 1880s and 1930s, these evolved into the USDA Bureaus of Entomology, of Animal Industry, and of Plant Quarantine, respectively.[2]

In 1953, those three bureaus were made into the new Agricultural Research Service.[1] In 1971, the animal and plant regulatory functions were separated from ARS to create a new entity known as Animal and Plant Health Services. In 1972, the meat and poultry inspection divisions of the Consumer and Marketing Service (later known as the Agricultural Marketing Service) were added to APHS, thus creating the contemporary APHIS.[9][1]

In 2003, many APHIS agricultural border inspectors were transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a unit of the newly created U.S. Department of Homeland Security.[10]

APHIS is the primary agency responsible for responding to animal and plant disease(s) and pest emergencies as well as to other emergencies as set forth by the National Response Plan (NRP) completed in 2005 (APHIS Strategic Plan 2003–2008).

APHIS celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 2, 2022.[11]

APHIS agent assesses the airfield for birds at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan

Wildlife Services (WS) field specialist sets a fox trap at the Barrow Steller's Eider Conservation Area in Alaska

The originally-stated purpose of APHIS is to “protect the animal and plant resources of the nation” and carry out “a poultry and meat inspection program.”[12] A more modern articulation of APHIS's mission is “protecting and promoting U.S. agricultural health, regulating genetically engineered organisms, administering the Animal Welfare Act and carrying out wildlife damage management activities.”[13]

APHIS aims to protect American animals, plants, and the agricultural industry by offering:

• Protection from invasive non-native plants, animals, insects, and diseases
• Monitoring and management of existing agricultural pests and diseases
• Resolution and management of trade issues related to animal or plant health
• Prevention or cessation of the inhumane treatment (of animals)

The threats and challenges within APHIS' scope include:

• Non-compliant biotech events
• Invasive species
• Agricultural animal/plant health threats
• Agricultural bioterrorism
• Sanitary and phytosanitary trade barriers
• Wildlife conflicts and diseases
• Zoonotic diseases
• Animal welfare issues

APHIS is divided into six operational programs units:

• Animal Care (AC): Determines and promotes standards of humane care and treatment of animals through inspections and educational efforts.
• Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS): Protects agricultural and natural resources by ensuring safe development of genetically engineered organisms using a science-based regulatory framework.
• International Services and Trade Support Team (IS): Provides international animal and plant health expertise to safeguard American agricultural health and promote U.S. agricultural trade.
• Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ): Safeguards agriculture and natural resources from risks associated with the entry, establishment, or spread of pests and noxious weeds.
• Veterinary Services (VS): Protects and improves the health, quality, and marketability of our nation's animals, animal products, and veterinary biologics by preventing, controlling, and/or eliminating animal diseases, and monitoring, and promoting animal health and productivity.
• Wildlife Services (WS): Provides leadership to resolve wildlife conflicts and create a balance allowing people and wildlife to peacefully coexist.

APHIS is also divided into three management support units (Legislative and Public Affairs, Marketing and Regulatory Programs Business Services, and Policy and Program Development), and two offices that support government-wide initiatives: the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and Office of Civil Rights Enforcement and Compliance.[9]

The current APHIS Administrator, Kevin Shea, was appointed in June 2013.[14] His immediate predecessor, Dr. Greg Parham, was appointed in April 2011.

The Deputy Administrator for Veterinary Services also functions as Chief Veterinary Officer of the United States, and represents the U.S. Government at the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) is the National Plant Protection Organization; the Deputy Administrator for PPQ represents the United States in the North American Plant Protection Organization and other international fora related to plant health and quarantine.

In addition to its domestic operations, APHIS International Services staff several overseas offices, including veterinary and plant health attachés in U.S. diplomatic missions as well as technicians carrying out disease and pest eradication and control programs.

On February 26, 2022 Deputy Administrator Osama El-Lissy left to become the Secretary of the International Plant Protection Convention.[15][16]

APHIS has a budget of approximately $800 million annually and employs about 7,000 people, about 5,000 of which are deployed as inspectors at ports, borders and on farms.

In 2005, the USDA OIG published a report which identified numerous failures on the part of APHIS’ Animal Care (AC) unit to adequately enforce the AWA, including:

• failure of AC's Eastern Region to aggressively pursue “enforcement actions against violators of the AWA”;
• failure to fine violators sufficiently, creating a climate in which “violators consider the monetary stipulation as a normal cost of conducting business rather than a deterrent for violating the law”;
• failure on the part of the USDA's Veterinary Medical Officers (VMOs) to ensure that research facilities provided them with basic data on themselves such as “the number of animals used in research” and the number of “unexpected animal deaths”;
• failure on the part of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) to effectively monitor animal care activities, in particular, veterinary care and review of painful procedures; and
• failure on the part of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) to ensure the use of non-animal methodologies where such research avenues exist.

The OIG audit further reported that at almost one-third of facilities, IACUCs failed to ensure that principal investigators (PIs) considered alternatives to painful procedures; the report cites this failure on the part of IACUCs as being the most frequent AWA violation at animal research facilities.[17]

In 2014, The USDA's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) criticized the Service for a number of issues including its failure to efficiently allocate resources and its failure to administer appropriate fines for animal welfare violations among other issues. The report found the Service conducted inspections at facilities that did not have any animals regulated under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). According to the report, “[Animal Care] did not make the best use of its limited resources, which could have been assigned to inspect other more problematic facilities, including breeders, dealers, and exhibitors.” The Service was also criticized for prematurely closing cases that involved “grave (e.g., animal deaths) or repeat welfare violations.” When the service did levy fines against institutions for AWA violations, the Inspector General's report found “penalties that were reduced by an average of 86 percent from... authorized maximum penalty per violation. Consequently, 26 of the 30 violators in our sample received” and that the Service “grant[ed] good faith reductions without merit or us[ed] a smaller number of violations than the actual number.” According to the USDA's report, APHIS agreed with the findings and will begin implanting reforms.[18]

On 4 February 2017, the USDA Animal Care Search Tool, a searchable database containing documents with details about the animals held by individual US animal research facility together with inspection and action reports, was removed from public access, with a stated reason of protecting personal information. The removal affects inspection reports, research facility annual reports, regulatory correspondence (such as official warnings), and certain enforcement records. Information from these documents can now only be requested via a Freedom of Information Act inquiry.[19] This removal has been criticized as substantially limiting information on animal care in US institutions, and of inhibiting access to what is still available.[20]

• Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations
• Title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations
• Beagle Brigade
• Phytosanitary Certificate Issuance and Tracking System
• Plant Protection and Quarantine
• Sanitary and phytosanitary measures and agreements

Media related to Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at Wikimedia Commons

• APHIS website
• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in the Federal Register
• APHIS programs