Among our 16,000 members are a proportionately small but significantly contributing number of Doctors of Veterinary Medicine. From this first hand acquaintance with their talent, their unique skills, we are persuaded that their numbers should be materially increased.

Too often the role of the veterinarian is considered exclusively in terms of caring for our animal pets or in association with our fine agricultural colleges. Yet the accomplishments of veterinary medical scientists in solving problems of human disease illustrates the distinguished role of this one factor in the total health team. Without demeaning the importance of the veterinarian in a large number of different professional vocational settings, this statement of support will be confined to our own sphere of competence-public health.

Historically, the discoveries of the veterinary medical scientist are indeed note worthy. Consider the benefits to mankind of:

Dr. Karl F. Meyer, whose work on botulism virtually eliminated this highly fatal food-borne disease.

Dr. Franz Benesch, who while working with horses and cattle perfected the spinal anesthesia.

Dr. Frank Schofield, who discovered dicumarol, the anticoagulant widely used in treating heart disease.

Dr. Fred Kilbourne, who observed that insects could transmit disease between animals and man and laid the ground work for Reed's conquest of yellow fever. Consider too the benefits which have accrued from the virtual eradication of bovine tuberculosis or the debilitating effects of hookworm or the use of cowpox virus to immunize against smallpox. All of these and others illustrate well the need to insure future contributions.

The veterinarian has been particularly helpful in the control of zoonoses, that is, those diseases of animal which are transmissible to man. These include tuberculosis, rabies, anthrax, tularemia, psittacosis, and others. He, along with other disciplines, has contributed to progress in the control of communicable diseases. It is the contention of the APHA, however, that the skills of the veterinary medical scientist could and should be utilized to an even greater degree. Especially pertinent, we believe, is his role in an emerging facet of medical science known as comparative medicine. Many of the chronic degenerative diseases of man, the etiology and pathogenesis of which continue to defy understanding, have similar counterparts in animals. Limited research on diseases in animals has already yielded data of value in our understanding the pathogenesis of similar phenomena in man. Studies involving animal populations under controlled laboratory conditions and under actual field conditions in both urban and rural areas would provide information of value for the ultimate control and prevention of chronic diseases in man. For these reasons we have urged expansion of animal chronic disease research and a greater use of veterinarians and other comparative medical scientists in medical schools and other research units.

In order that there will be an adequate number of trained specialists for both the traditional and the newly emerging areas of veterinary medicine, present educational facilities must be enlarged and more students encouraged to undertake the necessary course of training.

Today there are approximately 24,000 doctors of veterinary medicine in North America for a ratio of 12.3 per 100,000 population. Even at this ratio, 31,000 more graduates would be needed by the year 1980 and at the present ratio there would be a shortage of 2,000 veterinarians. On the basis of a projected need of 17.5 D.V.M.'s per 100,000 persons, 44,100 will be needed by 1980 or a shortage of 15,100 at the present 12.3 ratio. Of the present 24,000 veterinarians 525 leave the profession annually due to death or retirement. There are just 18 colleges of veterinary medicine in 17 states which graduate approximately 880 students annually. Because the average veterinarian studies more than 7 years, Federal support through student loans is urgently needed such as is presently provided for those seeking careers in medicine, dentistry, nursing, public health, podiatry, optometry, osteopathy and pharmacy. Many students are turned away due to overcrowding of present facilities. For this reason, Federal support is urgently needed to expand present facilities and to build new schools of veterinary medicine.

The American Veterinary Medical Association has pointed out that the present arrangement will not only preclude a more favorable ratio of veterinarians to population, it will result in the opposite situation. The APHA, therefore, urges enactment of legislation such as that presently before the Committee. Favorable consideration of our position is respectfully requested.

Mr. JARMAN. Our next witness is Dr. W. T. S. Thorp, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota. Dr. Thorp. STATEMENT OF DR. W. T. S. THORP, DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; CHAIRMAN, JOINT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF THE AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

Dr. THORP. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I want to take this opportunity to thank all the Congressmen who have come here and supported us.

My name is W. T. S. Thorp, dean of the College of Veterinarian Medicine, University of Minnesota and chairman of the Joint Committee on Education of the American Veterinary Medical Association. This committee represents the council on education of the American Veterinarian Medical Association, the colleges of veterinary medicine, and the department of veterinary medicine in many universities and land-grant colleges.

At this time for the committee I would like to ask all the individuals that are here from our colleges of veterinary medicine or departments of veterinary medicine to stand up. I think we have somebody here every veterinary college in the United States.

(Whereupon those individuals referred to arose.)

Mr. JARMAN. That is a very impressive representation, gentlemen. Dr. THORP. Our basic concern is the health and welfare of the Nation. You have all received the documentation of "Veterinary Medicine: Its Requirements and Responsibilities in Relation to Public Health."

The bills represented here are an attempt to secure needed support for an important segment of this Nation's health manpower. A segment which has existed as long as medicine in any form has been on this earth. Further, it is a part of the health profession's team which is playing more and more a significant role in human health.

The veterinary profession embraces all the essential medical and scientific knowledge necessary to continue our battle against all diseases. We have essentially eliminated bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis, we have one of the healthiest livestock industries in the world, we have veterinary officers in the armed services who are responsible for providing wholesome meats, milk, and food products of animal origin. There is above all, a recognition by the scientific and medical community that many of our most prevalent and serious human diseases have counterparts in animals which will serve as models for study by which veterinary medicine provides specific benefits to human health.

I am reminded of the statement that the former Surgeon General, Dr. Luther Terry made 4 years ago on the occasion of the centuries of progress in public health, in which he stated—

In my view of your past as a profession I am also reviewing my own branch of the medical profession. As I turn to the moment of the present to walk into the future, I can predict with confidence that your profession and mine will move forward together, learning from each other and reinforcing each other. We share common achievements and a common challenge.

I am reminded of testimony in 1958 when we were making attempts to be included specifically in support of the research facilities and during the course of these hearings the former Surgeon General Burney stated that if any of the other professionals should be included, other than medicine and denistry, veterinary medicine should probably be included.

The rapidly expanding role of veterinary medicine, and the total national effort to eradicate our societies major mental and environmental health threats has contributed to an already existing shortage of veterinarians in the professional's traditional endeavors, and made this shortage more pressing and more acute.

We find that diseases like leukemia, rhinotrachetis, and others may have more connections than just a model for human diseases or similarity.

We would like to place in the record a detailed statement of this committee's review and statement of needs.

Thank you very much.

Mr. JARMAN. Without objection there will be received in the record the committee's review.

(The statement referred to follows:)

STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PRESENTED BY W. T. S. THORP,' D.V.M. CHAIRMAN, JOINT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION OF THE AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges representing the eighteen colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States, the profession as represented by the American Veterinary Medical Association, Congressional Committees and health and agricultural groups have indicated the critical need for support of expanded veterinary medical facilities from the United States Congress. At present, 18 colleges in 17 states provided the education for veterinarians to serve all fifty states. The provision of Federal assistance would make it possible for all states to share part of the financial burden.

The provision of Federal assistance as proposed in the above bills would make it possible to meet a critical shortage of health manpower in veterinary medicine. Similar assistance has been provided to medicine, denistry and others. Without expanded educational facilities to increase the present rate of training, the nation faces a shortage of 15,000 veterinarians by 1880 when 44,000 veterinarians will be needed to provide for health manpower needs.

The modern day doctor of veterinary medicine is important to human and animal health in ways not thought possible a generation ago. These services are in greater need and demand than ever before in the history of the nation. Some of the requirements and responsibilities of veterinary medicine are detailed in this statement.

Veterinary Medicine is concerned with the protection and improvement of the health and welfare of our nation. It embraces medical and scientific knowledge essential to the continuing battle against all diseases both animal and human. The veterinary profession not only safeguards the health of our 50 billion dollar livestock industry, but it shields the human population from scores of animal diseases which may affect man. The eradicating of major livestock diseases, many of which are communicable to man, has freed this country from the age old threats to rural health. This is just one of the major responsibilities of the veterinary medical profession.

Veterinarians in the armed forces and in the Department of Agriculture play an important part relative to human disease. It is the ultimate concern of the veterinary officer in the armed forces that animal foods and food products imported from foreign countries are wholesome. The veterinarian is also engaged in the production and evaluation of drugs and pharmaceuticals and he is active on the rural or urban public health team.

The scientific and medical community have become aware that many of the most prevalent and serious human diseases have counterparts in animals. Medi

1 Dr. Thorp is Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota.

cal research can only undertake certain investigations on animals which serve as experimental models of the disease in man. This has lead to an expanding role of veterinary medicine in the area of human medical research and related biomedical fields.

Many of the medical schools and research institutions employ veterinarians as full time staff members for teaching on research and to emphasize the value of comparative medical studies, not only to medical students but to research associates. The rapidly expanding role in veterinary medicine and the total national effort to eradicate our society's major physical, mental and environmental health threats has contributed to make an already existing shortage of veterinarians, in the profession's traditional endeavors, more pressing and more acute. The American Colleges and Universities at present age graduating 880 veterinarians annually; approximately 525 veterinarians are leaving the profession each year. Unless student enrollment in veterinary medical schools increases substantially, established needs for veterinary services can not be met, and the nation will be faced by 1980, with a shortage of more than 15,000 members of this health profession.

The veterinary medical personnel for the 50 United States are supplied by 18 colleges of Veterinary Medicine in 17 states. Their classrooms are filled to capacity, these facilities need to be expanded. At least four qualified applicants were turned away for each one accepted in the American Veterinary Medical Colleges in 1965. This is especially distressing at a time when we are suffering from an acute shortage of veterinary personnel. The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates that there are approximately 24.000 veterinarians in the United States. To maintain the present ratio of veterinarians it is conservatively estimated that we will need 31,000 veterinarians by 1980, both in the traditional veterinary activities and to staff the newly emerging fields of veterinary medicine. A Senate Committee report on government operations, August 10, 1961, concerning veterinary medical science and human health, estimated that to adequately serve the public as well as the health needs of North America, 17.5 veterinarians per 100,000 population would be needed by 1980. The latest edition of the Health Careers Guidebook of the United States Department of Labor states: "Today's veterinarian is important to human as well as animal health in ways no one could have thought possible just a generation ago and its services are in greater demand than ever."

The Senate Committee estimated that to adequately serve the public as well as the health needs of North America, 17.5 veterinarians per 100,000 population would be needed by 1980. In 1964, the Bureau of Census revised its projections on population increases as follows: 1975, 230 million population; 1980, 252 million population; 1985, 275 million population.

If the 17.5 figure were applied to the revised projections, the number of veterinarians needed and the apparent shortages would be as follows:

Projected shortages of veterinarians based on present rate of graduation and projected need (17.5 per 100,000 population)

To earn his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree a student must complete a minimum of two years of preveterinary college training and an additional four years of professional training in a college of veterinary medicine. The average graduate veterinarian has studied more than 7 years to earn his D.V.M degree. In the public interest, passage of the veterinary educational facilities construction act is urgently needed. It would enable the veterinary profession to provide the following.

(A) Necessary buildings to increase enrollment in existing veterinary medical colleges. The limited capacity of these colleges at a time when there is a growing shortage of veterinarians is short sighted. Lack of construction and new teaching facilities is a principal obstacle to increasing student enrollment in most colleges.

(B) Establishment of new veterinary colleges. There are 18 colleges of veterinary medicine in the United States, even with expansion, these will be unable to supply all those needed in the years ahead. Many qualified students in the 33 states lacking a veterinary college find it impossible to obtain an education. Several states have postponed action because of the relatively high cost of construction, maintenance, staffing, and operation of a college of veterinary medicine.

(C) Loans to veterinary medical students to finance their education are needed.

A survey of the Deans of the American Veterinary Colleges reveals that:

(1) Many students are unable to achieve an acceptable level of scholarship performance because of the necessity to work excessively on part time jobs.

(2) Many students who would be excellent veterinarians select other degree programs because of their inability to finance the number of years of veterinary education.

(3) Present support of facilities and student loans in some of the other health professions do much to alleviate these problems, but attract would-be students in veterinary medicine. This means that the future needs of welltrained veterinarians at a time when the activities of the veterinary and medical professions are becoming increasingly complementary would inevitably increase the burden on other medical sciences. Veterinary colleges are national resources in the full sense. Their support therefore is a federal matter and must be accomplished by passage of the necessary veterinary education facilities legislation. The 18 veterinary colleges in 17 States cannot meet the needs, if it is quite unlikely that each state can support a college of veterinary medicine. Thus, each veterinary school continues to enroll students from states having no veterinary college.

"In some parts of the United States, those states without veterinary medical colleges have entered into agreements with schools in nearby states. However. even where a contract exists, the percentage of applicants admitted from contract states is much smaller than that from the state in which the school is located. Obviously, equal educational opportunity does not exist for aspiring veterinary medical students throughout the United States. Expansion of existing schools and establishment of new schools would do much toward providing equal educational opportunity for all students who wish to study veterinary medicine. Modern veterinary medicine has achieved a high level of scientific sophistication and performance. Its contributions to human health and welfare establish veterinary education as a precious national interest.

The dimensions of veterinary medicine

Over 2% of all veterinarians in the United States engage in private practice. They safeguard the health of all domestic animals, and birds, prevent the spreading of animal diseases to man, and provide him with a wholesome food supply. Approximately 8,500 veterinarians care for the nations farm animals, this is necessary to meet the demand of protein food which is on the increase and will continue to increase in order to meet the needs of a rapidly increasing population. The veterinary practitioner is part of the program to eradicate major livestock diseases, many of which, such as tuberculosis and brucellosis are communicable to man. He also protects man against diseases transmissible from animals, such as rabies, leptospirosis, bacterial diarrhea, ringworm, stephaloccosis and psittacosis.

Government service

About of the veterinarians in the United States are in public serviceteaching, conducting research or engaged in disease control and preventive medicine. Based on prior and projected requirements it has been estimated that by 1980, 13,000 veterinarians will be needed in public service.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Veterinarians are necessary to carry out many functions of state and federal government agencies in the United States. Veterinarians have been engaged in the eradication of livestock diseases including those communicable to man, since 1884 when the Bureau of Animal Industry became a part of the United