If you value the health and longevity of your dog or cat, we urge you to follow this public information series on the risks of over-vaccination. Parvo, hepatitis, distemper and rabies vaccines have recently been classified as "core vaccines" but there are many other immunization products to which dogs and cats are needlessly subjected or overexposed. The bottom line, core vaccines are proven to protect your pet for a minimum of 7 years! This information has been withheld from the pet owning public for obvious reasons. Read and learn. We begin with excerpts from testimony by Kris L. Christine's February 2005 testimony before the State Of Maine's Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry Committee. Kris went on to become the Founder and Co-Trustee of The Rabies Challenge Fund now backed by Dr. Jean Dodds (one of the world's leading veterinary research scientists) and other prominent veterinarians and veterinary universities. Kris's determination, knowledge, and discovery of significant vaccine risks began long before the historical formation of the Rabies Challenge Foundation. (Most)veterinarians have failed to inform clients that most core veterinary vaccines protect for seven or more years, and pet owners, unaware that their animals don't need booster vaccinations more often, have unwittingly given their companions useless booster shots taking an unnecessary toll on their finances and animals' health. The human equivalent would be physicians vaccinating patients against tetanus once every year, two years, or three years and not disclosing that the vaccines are known to be protective for 10 years. For years veterinarians have sent pet owners annual, biennial and triennial reminders for redundant booster shots and justified it with vaccine manufacturer's labeled recommendations. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association's (AVMA) Principles of Vaccination (Attachment 6), ..revaccination frequency recommendations found on many vaccine labels is based on historical precedent, not on scientific data [and] does not resolve the question about average or maximum duration of immunity [Page 2] and.. may fail to adequately inform practitioners about optimal use of the product - Page 4. As the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital states it: "booster vaccine recommendations for vaccines other than rabies virus have been determined arbitrarily by manufacturers." Dr. Ronald Schultz, Chairman of Pathobiological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine, is at the forefront of vaccine research and is one of the world's leading authorities on veterinary vaccines. His challenge study results form the scientific base of the American Animal Hospital Association's (AAHA) 2003 Canine Vaccine Guidelines, Recommendations, and Supporting Literature (Attachment 7). These studies are based on science they are not arbitrary. The public, however, cannot access this data. The American Animal Hospital Association only makes this report available to veterinarians, not private citizens, and Maine's pet owners are unaware that the AAHAGuidelines state on Page 18 that: "We now know that booster injections are of no value in dogs already immune, and immunity from distemper infection and vaccination lasts for a minimum of 7 years based on challenge studies and up to 15 years (a lifetime) based on antibody titer." They further state that hepatitis and parvovirus vaccines have been proven to protect for a minimum of 7 years by challenge and up to 9 and 10 years based on antibody count. So, unless the Legislature passes LD429 requiring veterinarians to provide vaccine disclosure forms, dog owners who receive an annual, biennial, or triennial reminders for booster shots will not know that nationally-accepted scientific studies have demonstrated that animals are protected a minimum of 7 years after vaccination with the distemper, parvovirus, and adenovirus-2 vaccines (see Page 12 AAHA 2003 Guidelines attached, and Table 1, Pages 3 and 4). "My own pets are vaccinated once or twice as pups and kittens, then never again except for rabies," Wall Street Journal reporter Rhonda L. Rundle quoted Dr. Ronald Schultz in a July 31, 2002 article entitled Annual Pet Vaccinations may be Unnecessary, Fatal (Attachment 2). Dr. Schultz knows something the pet-owning public doesn't he knows there's no benefit in over vaccinating animals because immunity is not enhanced, but the risk of harmful adverse reactions is increased. He also knows that most core veterinary vaccines are protective for at least seven years, if not for the lifetime of the animal.