What is the AVMA?

What is the AVMA?

Founded in 1863, the AVMA is a not-for-profit organization that aims to “protect, promote, and advance the veterinary profession.” The association develops positions on key animal welfare issues, offers accreditation/certification programs, provides resources for veterinarians, and more. It also actively lobbies for legislation that it determines to be beneficial for veterinarians and the animals they treat.

With more than 99,500 members spanning fields from medical research to industry to food safety, the AVMA is the largest and oldest organization representing veterinarians—and aims to set the gold standard for excellence in the profession. But the association hasn’t been without controversy.

Over the last two decades, the AVMA has come under fire for its positions on some animal welfare issues—specifically, its refusal to condemn the barbaric practices of housing mother pigs in tiny gestation crates and force-feeding birds to produce foie gras. Now, the AVMA is receiving criticism for its silence on ventilation shutdown plus, a horrific killing method being used to exterminate millions of farmed animals across the United States.

What does the AVMA stand for?

The AVMA lists its mission as follows:

The mission of the Association is to lead the profession by advocating for our members, and advancing the science and practice of veterinary medicine to improve animal and human health.

The organization’s website prominently features the “Veterinarian’s Oath,” a promise taken by veterinarians to use their “scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through…the prevention and relief of animal suffering.”

The AVMA lists its core values as:

• Ethical
• Inclusive
• Science-based
• Animal-focused
• Member-centric
• Supportive
• Fiscally responsible
• Efficient
• Innovative

Unfortunately, the AVMA doesn’t always put these values into practice. By refusing to take a strong stance against foie gras and gestation crates, the organization has already revealed itself to be far from “ethical,” “animal-focused,” or committed to the “relief of animal suffering”—directly contradicting its own core values and Veterinarian’s Oath.

What is the importance of the AVMA?

As the country’s leading advocate for veterinarians, the AVMA’s voice is highly influential. While AVMA guidelines are not legally binding, they often shape animal policy and effectively become law. Powerful agencies like the USDA regularly follow AVMA guidance on animal welfare issues—one of them being ventilation shutdown plus (VSD+).

VSD+ is a killing method used to “depopulate” animals on a massive scale. It involves closing off air to the facility and pumping in heat, ultimately causing animals to die of suffocation and heatstroke. Called the “most inhumane method available,” it has been likened to the experience of dying in a hot car.

In a brutal industry effort to contain the avian influenza outbreak that began in 2022, tens of millions of chickens have now been roasted alive using the method. Trapped for hours in airless barns heated to above 104°F, according to Animal Outlook, birds will “writhe, gasp, pant, stagger and even throw themselves against the walls of their confinement in a desperate attempt to escape.”

What does the AVMA say about VSD+?

Shockingly, the AVMA endorses VSD+, listing it as “permitted in constrained circumstances.” This is in direct opposition to its own Veterinarian’s Oath to further “the prevention and relief of animal suffering.”

In a growing crisis, the poultry industry is now using the AVMA’s endorsement to justify using VSD+ in unprecedented numbers. By ending its support of the practice, the AVMA could save millions more animals from extreme suffering. But the organization refuses to budge on the issue or speak with other veterinarians about its position, instead remaining complicit in the brutal slaughter of millions of turkeys, egg-laying hens, and chickens raised for meat.

Is the AVMA a credible source?

As a science-based organization with widespread influence, the AVMA is generally regarded as a credible resource for questions regarding animal welfare and veterinary medicine. However, its policies don’t always have sufficient scientific backing. A deeper look shows how flimsy its stance on VSD+, for example, really is. The AVMA’s endorsement of VSD+ is based entirely on a single study—and not only that, but a study funded by the poultry industry.

In 2016, researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) received a grant from the US Poultry and Egg Association, a prominent industry trade group, to validate VSD+ as a method for killing hens—a study that later earned them an industry award. (Content warning: distressing footage.) Investigators with Animal Outlook recently uncovered public records, including 10 hours of video footage, from that study. Their investigation revealed not only shocking animal cruelty, but also fundamental flaws with the research itself.

The heartbreaking videos show hens trapped in small glass boxes being subjected to VSD in different forms—some with airflow cut off, some with heat or carbon dioxide being added. The birds are shown panting, frantically flapping around in their cages, and lunging at the walls of the enclosure as they slowly suffocate to death. Researchers can be seen documenting the birds’ suffering in graphic detail.

In a Vermont Law School lecture on the normalization of VSD+, independent journalist Marina Bolotnikova identifies serious flaws in the NCSU ventilation shutdown study—pointing out reporting and mathematical errors, huge gaps in the study language (including a missing definition for the word “humane,”), and the fact that the report was so poorly written that it was sometimes difficult to understand. Also important to note is that the research was conducted under laboratory—not real-life, commercial—conditions. In a typical factory farm facility, it can take far longer for animals to finally die.

As the Intercept points out: “USDA records indicate that VSD was used to kill birds at four facilities in Indiana in 2016, before the NC State research was published. But the NC State report is the only scientific research cited in the AVMA guidelines on ventilation shutdown in birds, though other studies have since been published on the method in birds and pigs.”

In 2019, with the NCSU study as the sole scientific source cited, the AVMA listed VSD+ as “permitted in constrained circumstances.” And in turn, the USDA referenced the AVMA’s position in their official January 2022 response to the highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak—sealing the fate of millions of animals.

It’s hard enough to watch this happening to one animal. Sadly, because of the AVMA’s refusal to change its stance, millions of healthy birds are dying this way. Despite numerous requests from veterinarians, animal protection organizations, and advocates, the AVMA has refused to meet and discuss its position—instead choosing to remain silent.

Do veterinarians agree with the AVMA?

It’s not only animals who are being harmed by the AVMA’s stance on VSD+. Veterinarians are suffering as well, particularly with regard to their mental health. A recent study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, which examined psychological distress and wellbeing in veterinarians tasked with depopulating pigs, found that depopulation was (unsurprisingly) associated with burnout, and that the method of depopulation impacted vets’ distress significantly.

The AVMA’s position on VSD+ shows a blatant disregard for the veterinarians they claim to represent. Animal advocates and many veterinarians are united in their opposition to ventilation shutdown plus, and they are urgently calling on the AVMA to disendorse the practice.

How you can help

Live animals don’t belong in ovens—and veterinarians should be the first to know that. Please urgently call on the AVMA to stop endorsing the horrific practice of VSD+. Together, we can show them that roasting animals alive is never an acceptable solution.