A new study by scholars at Harvard Law School and New York University finds that the United States is not ready for the future spread of animal-borne diseases owing to gaps across federal organizations designated to tackle these risks.

The authors urge the implementation of a “One Health” strategy that unifies several organizations in order to better regulate human-animal interactions.

Science published an editorial by Dale Jamieson, a professor at New York University’s Center for Environmental and Animal Protection, and Ann Linder, a research scholar at Harvard Law School’s Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program, titled “Blind spots in biodefense.”

According to Linder and Jamieson, the National Biodefense Strategy (NBS-22) released by the Biden administration is the first update to the strategy since the COVID-19 pandemic. The strategy portrays threats as mostly external to the United States.

According to them, NBS-22 neglects threats presented by everyday practices of animal use and production within the United States and concentrates largely on bioterrorism and laboratory mishaps.

Given the history and current state of the human-animal interaction in the United States, Linder and Jamieson point out that this misunderstanding is significant:

The United States was the primary source of zoonotic illnesses for the rest of the world in the second part of the twentieth century.
The United States processed more than 10 billion animals in 2022, a record high and an increase of 204 million from the previous year.
Since 2003, 58 million domestic and farmed birds have perished in the United States due to the continuing H5N1 avian influenza pandemic.
More cases of swine-origin influenza have been reported in the United States than in any other nation since 2011. The majority took place at state and county fairs, which draw 150 million people annually and where it is believed that 18% of pigs tested positive.

Additionally, they point out that there are major gaps and unregulated regions due to the present patchwork of fragmented agencies and authorities’ lack of collaboration.

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture is the most prominent of the several bodies that manage the production of animals for human consumption, it lacks the ability to regulate animal production on farms.

In order to reduce the threat of zoonotic diseases, the authors advocate for a total revamp of the United States’ regulatory structure.

Linder and Jamieson argue for a “fundamental restructuring of the way that human-animal interfaces are governed,” rather than just “for agencies to do their jobs better or to paper over the gaps.”

“A One Health approach, which NBS-22 claims as its guiding principle, would take the health of other living things not merely as the occasional means or obstacles to human health, but as continuous with it.

The first step in implementing such an approach would be to create a high-level process for integrating the broken mosaic of multiple agencies, with their unclear and sometimes competing mandates, into an effective, comprehensive regime.”

The editorial is based on findings from the Live Animal Markets Project, which investigates worldwide policy responses to animal markets and their involvement in the spread of zoonotic diseases.

The project contains 15 nations case studies conducted by local collaborators, partner institutions, and core research team members.

The project’s goal is to give a complete evaluation to policymakers, contribute to public education about zoonotic dangers, and serve the human health and animal welfare groups.

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