AUGUSTA – LD 429, a bill that would have required state veterinarians to provide vaccine disclosures to pet owners, has been tabled after the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee sent the responsibility for such disclosure back to the vets themselves.

Kris Christine of Alna, the pet advocate who prompted the legislation and has lobbied for vaccination reform for more than a year, said this weekend that she was not confident that the veterinarians would provide the information to their clients.

She was hopeful, however, that the Agriculture Committee left the door to reform open by stating that if the vets do not voluntarily comply, the bill will be heard again next winter.

At a work session on LD 429 last week, all members, except state Rep. Joanne Twomey, D-Biddeford, voted that the bill “ought not to pass with an exception.” The committee plans to send the Maine Veterinary Medical Association a letter about having disclosure forms available and will be tracking their compliance.

“I’m still stunned that the Agriculture Committee found it appropriate to allow veterinarians, who profit by vaccinating animals, to filter vaccine disclosure information to pet owners,” Christine said this weekend. “This presents an inherent conflict of interest.”

Christine said an example of this conflict is that the Maine Veterinary Medical Association was represented on the panel of the Maine Department of Agriculture’s Rabies Working Group.

“The committee did nothing to correct Maine’s flawed rabies immunization requirement for dogs until I raised the issue,” she said. Christine said that “if the panel had its way, vets would still be vaccinating our dogs every two years with a three-year vaccine.”

Christine was instrumental in changing that requirement in Maine.

“The MVMA has already proven they are incapable of ‘policing’ themselves when it comes to veterinary vaccine disclosure,” she said. “We’ll see.”