May 5, 2008 … Ames, Iowa. The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) is releasing a new Issue Paper, Vaccine Development Using Recombinant DNA Technology, the seventh in CAST’s nine-part series Animal Agriculture’s Future through Biotechnology.

“Current public health threats posed by the potential spread of highly infectious disease agents between animals and humans, as well as the emergence of new diseases, impact animal agriculture significantly,” says Task Force Chair Dr. Mark Jackwood, Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center, University of Georgia. “Animal vaccinations are among the most effective, successful tools for dealing with these concerns.”

In fact, research shows that development of vaccination as a tool in fighting disease has resulted in the potential to combat almost all infectious agents affecting people and animals. In an effort to further the understanding and support of vaccine research and development, CAST is publishing this Issue Paper, written and reviewed by a seven-member Task Force, which addresses the following:

• An historical overview of vaccine development.
• Three types of recombinant vaccines.
• Development of vaccines for cattle, sheep, and goats; swine; poultry; fish; and companion animals.
• Commercially available vaccines.
• Recent advances in recombinant vaccines for the control of infectious diseases.
• The future of vaccines for animal diseases.

“Controlling animal disease is crucial to animal agriculture as well as to human health,” notes CAST Executive Vice President John Bonner. “CAST is pleased to provide this important scientific assessment of the development and use of animal vaccines.”

The full text of the paper Vaccine Development Using Recombinant DNA Technology (Issue Paper No. 38) may be accessed on the CAST website at www.cast-science.org, along with many of CAST’s other scientific publications, and is available in hardcopy for $5.00 (includes shipping) by contacting the CAST office at 515-292-2125. CAST is an international consortium of 38 scientific and professional societies. It assembles, interprets, and communicates credible science-based information regionally, nationally, and internationally to legislators, regulators, policymakers, the media, the private sector, and the public.

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Contacts:

Dr. Mark Jackwood, Phone 706-542-5475; E-mail mjackwoo@uga.edu

Dr. John Bonner, Phone 515-292-2125, ext. 25; E-mail jbonner@cast-science.org