Health and Safety Advisory Committee (HASAC) of the International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS) has managed critical challenges for two decades.
The International Embryo Transfer Society (IETS) was founded in 1974. Early members used the society as a forum for the exchange of scientific and technical information relevant to a newly emerging embryo transfer industry. The impact that embryo transfer could have on the international trade of livestock genetics was clear by 1982, so the IETS commissioned the Import/Export Committee. The initial challenge for this Committee was to deal with concerns about disease transmission via embryo transfer. Many of the early concerns have been dispelled, but at the time they threatened the continued development of a fledgling industry. Over the past two decades, many new critical challenges have been met and managed by this Committee, which was recently renamed the Health and Safety Advisory Committee (HASAC). Assessing risks of animal disease transmission via reproductive technologies and establishing protocols for managing these risks are still major issues for HASAC. However, additional concerns have developed as views of the society changed and as novel applications of biotechnology in farm animals were identified. This paper is intended to chronicle some of the major changes and challenges that were managed by members of the HASAC and its Subcommittees from the early years of embryo transfer to the current millennium with technological advances in molecular biology.
Thibier
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Representation de la France aupres de la FAO, Rome, Italy. michel-thibier@ifrance.com
Stringfellow
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D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001709:Biotechnology; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary; D004624:Embryo Transfer / Q000662:veterinary*; D017053:Infection Control; D007239:Infections / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012449:Safety; D012952:Societies / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends