Two Iowans who participated in a U-S Senate hearing on the bird flu outbreak were critical of the government’s response, but say they believe things are improving. Brad Moline of Moline Farms in Manson raises turkeys and spoke after the hearing about the problems he saw with the response of the U-S Department of Agriculture and the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Moline says the lack of communication made the situation worse.
United Egg Producers chairman, James Dean of Sioux Center, agreed that there were problems with communicating with the government.

Dean says the issues went beyond the facilities, but also impacted the entire communities that surround the affected farms. He says the hearing was needed to analyze the weaknesses within the response to the outbreak.