Arizona could soon have a state law to mandate the kind of advice your mother would give you: Wash your hands after petting farm animals.
Sen. John Kavanagh says it makes common sense.
But the Fountain Hills Republican told Capitol Media Services the fact that children got sick with E. coli after being at a petting zoo last year at the Arizona State Fair means that it's not necessarily happening. So he wants to make it the law.
As crafted, his SB 1082 would mandate that operators of petting zoos, animal encounter exhibits and other similar operations ensure that visitors wash their hands with soap or water or use a hand sanitizer immediately on leaving any area where animals are accessible to the public. And there also would have to be someone supervising the process.
Kavanagh said the measure also would require that the area be set up so that people just walking by can't touch the animals "so they don't catch anything.''
The senator said what he's proposing is not government overreach. Kavanagh said it's no different than other requirements in the health code that food handlers have to go through special training to be certified by the state and that restaurants are routinely inspected.
"If you have a petting zoo and there's a chance you could be spreading serious illnesses which can hospitalize children, have a hand washing station,'' he said.
What's behind the legislation were reports from Parker's Promise, a national nonprofit group that works with children who have become infected because of environmental factors, that it had been contacted by parents of several Arizona children who had become ill after petting pigs at the fair's petting zoo. It said multiple children were hospitalized to be treated for the bacteria which is expelled in the fecal material of all animals.
Some forms of the bacteria are benign. But others cause serious infection, including the possible need for kidney transplants.
"Obviously, we've got a problem,'' said Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association.
But does it require legislation?
"In an ideal world, you could just rely on the state fair people and the county and state health departments to ensure that the petting zoos are run properly and safely,'' said Humble, a former state health director who helped Kavanagh craft the measure.
"But, as we saw with the state fair, sadly, it looks like you can't rely on just good public health practice,'' he said. "You probably need some legislation to ensure that people take it seriously and are held accountable for making sure that just the basic safety measures are in place.''
The biggest potential problems, Humble said, are at petting zoos that are the largest and are set up for the longest periods of time, like at a county or state fair.
"You've got kids running through, day after day,'' he said. That, said Humble, is far different than a parent who may contract with someone to bring a few animals to a birthday party.
And there's another big difference.
"Those ones that come to birthday parties tend to be goats and sheep and stuff,'' he said.
But Humble said operations like the one at the state fair that led to the infections are different.
"At the fairs, you have pigs that lay around in their own feces which is a different behavior and puts them at higher risk in terms of animals,'' he said. And that, Humble said, requires not only that there be places to wash hands or sanitize but also someone to make sure that those who have been inside the area — and petting the animals — actually are washing up afterwards.
"Had that been in place, all of those kids wouldn't have gotten sick,'' he said.
Humble said what's happening been happening at the fair just doesn't cut it.
"There was a bathroom down the hall,'' Humble said. But that presumes the parents are sending their kids there — and the kids actually finding the facility.
While the proposal would not force homeowners who invite petting zoos to their parties to put in and enforce hand washing stations, they still would have to post a sign saying that people who have come into contact with the animals must wash their hands.
No date has been set for a hearing.
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