ExcitePCR Lauds New Report on “Defense of Animal Agriculture” Published Last Week by the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense
Pleasanton, Calif. and Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) October 23, 2017 -- ExcitePCR today applauded the timing, tenor and tenacity of a new Report titled “Defense of Animal Agriculture” and called it a “wake-up call” for elected and appointed officials on the serious risks to the agricultural and food supply industries in the United States.
Among points made in the Report that are categorically supported by ExcitePCR are recommendations to
1. Increase funding of the National Veterinary Stockpile,
2. Create Federal government programs to incentivize industry partners to develop “rapid Point-of-Care (POC) diagnostic devices for high-consequence pathogens,” and the recommendation to
3. Expand the development of wildlife disease detection technologies (in order to help minimize the negative impact of cross species infection from wildlife to livestock).
“This Report on the ‘Defense of Animal Agriculture’ serves as a literal wake-up call for all elected and appointed government officials in the U.S., from the highest levels of the federal government down to our frontline local agriculture inspectors and food safety professionals,” said Dr. Kimothy Smith, DVM, Chief Science Officer of ExcitePCR and former Chief Veterinarian of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2005—2008). “In 2014 we lost over 50 million birds on just 232 poultry farms in the U.S. from an outbreak of Avian Flu, a disease that started with migrating wild birds and spread to animals such as chicken and turkeys. The truth is that we are not prepared as a country from a biodefense standpoint. That’s why I believe that this Report is the most accurate assessment in the past 20 years of the security risks faced by our country’s agricultural and food supply industries.”
“Defense of Animal Agriculture” was published last Wednesday by the bi-partisan Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense. The Study Panel is a privately funded organization formed in 2014 with the goal of providing a “comprehensive assessment of the state of U.S. biodefense efforts (and issuing) recommendations that will foster change.”
“Dr. Smith is absolutely correct — the United States is not ready to minimize the next disease threat to its agricultural or food industries,” said Charles Pick, Advisory Board Member of ExcitePCR and president of seqID, a molecular genetics company focused on agriculture. “Unfortunately, if there’s anything history has shown us, it’s that every country is at risk from a serious disease outbreak. That’s why I’m pleased to be working with ExcitePCR as it prepares to bring its first commercially available pathogen detection systems to market in 2018.”
ExcitePCR announced in August its Firefly-DX™ family of realtime pathogen detection systems, with its first product (the FireflyDX-Portable™) slated for delivery in summer 2018. The FireflyDX-Portable is a rechargeable, bookbag-sized pathogen detection solution that utilizes state-of-the-art Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technologies to deliver on-site results at the Point-of-Care/Point-of-Need (POC/PON). Additionally, the FireflyDX-Portable is designed to be used by virtually anyone with minimal training, yet will produce highly accurate results in 30 minutes or less — including sample preparation time — an effort that typically takes the most time in testing for the presence of biohazards.
For more information about ExcitePCR, please visit its Website at http://www.excitepcr.com.
About ExcitePCR
Headquartered in Pleasanton, California, ExcitePCR Corporation is developing portable pathogen detection systems based upon superior sample preparation and realtime PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) methodologies. Its FireflyDX technologies will deliver rapid automated Point-of-Care/Point-of-Care (POC/PON) sample preparation and highly accurate biohazard identification in a fraction of the time currently possible using existing PCR-based solutions.
ExcitePCR, FireflyDX and FireflyDX-Portable are each trademarks of ExcitePCR Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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CONTACT: David Politis, dpolitis(at)excitepcr(dot)com, C: 801-556-8184
David Politis, ExcitePCR, http://www.excitepcr.com, +1 801-556-8184, [email protected]
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