09/22/06 Avian influenza preparedness briefing

Washington Ag September 22, 2006 The Washington State Department of Agriculture together with the USDA is holding an avian influenza preparedness briefing for Washington state on October 3rd. It will be held in Tacoma at the Sheraton Tacoma running from nine a.m. to 3:30 p.m. WSDA spokesman Jason Kelly says a lot of people will find the briefing of interest. Kelly: "Anybody associated with poultry and agriculture would of course be invited and I am sure would be interested in participating. But we are also reaching out to the extension agents and Farm Bureau representatives and people who are working 4-H or the fairs. Veterinarians are going to be interested in some of this information. And they we are also just reaching out to law enforcement agencies and emergency management coordinators and public health officials. It is such a high profile issue we know there is going to be a broad cross section of the population that would be interested in taking advantage of this." There is no charge to attend the October 3rd briefing. To register and to find out more visit http://aiaware.org/wa/. I'm Bob Hoff.