International trade, animal health and veterinary epidemiology: challengesand opportunities

The link between international trade. animal health and epidemiology has be en recognized for a long time and has taken an additional importance in the aftermath of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations of the G eneral Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and of the inception of the Wo rld Trade Organization. The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Ph ytosanitary Measures of the World Trade Organization demands that sanitary and phytosanitary measures be scientifically based, placing epidemiology at the center of decisions related animal health and trade. This paper analys es the interactions between international trade of animals (and animal prod ucts) and epidemiology with discussion on the inputs of epidemiology in sur veillance. risk analysis and regionalization. (C) 2001 Elsevier science B,V . All rights reserved.