Rescission of Embargo Prohibiting the Importation of Goat Skin Handicrafts From Haiti Into the United States

Primary source

Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.

Published

August 22, 2025

Issuing agencies

Health and Human Services DepartmentCenters for Disease Control and Prevention

Abstract

Based on a review of existing import requirements, CDC has determined that the import requirements for goatskin handicrafts from Haiti are no longer necessary to protect the public's health and should therefore be rescinded. Accordingly, effective immediately, CDC is rescinding the advisory memorandum order banning the importation of Haitian goatskin handicrafts (August 14, 1981).

Full Text

<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 161 (Friday, August 22, 2025)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 161 (Friday, August 22, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41074-41075]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16063]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Rescission of Embargo Prohibiting the Importation of Goat Skin
Handicrafts From Haiti Into the United States

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Based on a review of existing import requirements, CDC has
determined that the import requirements for goatskin handicrafts from
Haiti are no longer necessary to protect the public's health and should
therefore be rescinded. Accordingly, effective immediately, CDC is
rescinding the advisory memorandum order banning the importation of
Haitian goatskin handicrafts (August 14, 1981).

DATES: CDC's advisory memorandum banning importation of Haitian
goatskin handicrafts is rescinded on August 22, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley C. Altenburger, J.D., Division
of Global Migration Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS
H16-4, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; telephone 1-800-232-4636. For
information regarding CDC operations and CDC-regulated importations,
please contact: Dr. Mark E. Laughlin, D.V.M., Division of Global
Migration Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS H16-
4, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; telephone 1-800-232-4636.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CDC is rescinding its advisory memorandum
order banning the importation of Haitian goatskin handicrafts (August
14, 1981). In keeping with its public health practice of reviewing the
status of potential public health threats at U.S. ports of entry, the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), concluded, for the
reasons outlined below, that importation requirements for goatskin
handicrafts from Haiti no longer serve the interests of public health
and should therefore be rescinded. Specifically, CDC has determined
that the marginal public health benefit of this long-standing action
does not outweigh the potential burden on importers.
Executive Order 14192 of January 31, 2025 on ``Unleashing
Prosperity Through Deregulation'' requires that any new incremental
costs associated with certain significant regulatory actions ``shall,
to the extent permitted by law, be offset by the elimination of
existing costs associated with at least 10 prior regulations.'' This
notice, which rescinds an existing import requirement, meets the
criteria of a ``deregulatory action'' under Executive Order 14192.

CDC Action

Anthrax and Haitian Goat Skin Handicrafts

1. Background
Since 1974, under the authority of 42 CFR 71.32(b), CDC has
prohibited the importation of goatskin drums to the United States from
Haiti to prevent anthrax transmission 1 2 (QD-CPS Advisory
Memorandum No. 61). This longstanding policy was subsequently modified
in 1994 to specify Haitian goatskin handicraft derived from untanned
rawhide or with attached hair capable of transmitting anthrax (QD-EPI
Advisory Memorandum No. 107). Humans can become infected if they handle
or are involved in the slaughter of a sick animal or are in contact
with contaminated animal products (such as meat, blood, wool, hides,
bones).3 4 Anthrax is an acute bacterial disease that can be
fatal for humans if untreated. However, humans infected with anthrax
generally respond well to most antibiotics (with penicillin G and
amoxicillin as the first choice, and ciprofloxacin and doxycycline
serving as alternatives). In addition to antibiotic therapy, specific
antitoxin serum for anthrax (either polyclonal anthrax immune globulin
intravenous or monoclonal antitoxin) may be used in injectional anthrax
and systemic anthrax.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\1\ CDC. Cutaneous anthrax acquired from imported Haitian
drums--Florida. MMWR April 26, 1974; 23: 142, 147. Available at
<a href="https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/1690">https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/1690</a>.
\2\ CDC. Anthrax contamination of Haitian goatskin products.
MMWR July 17, 1981: pp 338. Available at <a href="https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/1267">https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/1267</a>.
\3\ CDC. Use of Anthrax Vaccine in the US; Recommendations of
the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, MMRW 2010: 59 (No.
RR-6): [1-30].
\4\ Metcalfe N. The history of woolsorters' disease: a Yorkshire
beginning with an international future? Occup Med (Lond). 2004
Oct;54(7):489-93. doi: 10.1093/occmed/kqh115.
\5\ Doganay M, Dinc G, Kutmanova A, Baillie L. Human Anthrax:
Update of the Diagnosis and Treatment. Diagnostics (Basel). 2023 Mar
10;13(6):1056. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13061056.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Rationale for Rescission
In recent decades in the United States, there have been very few
human cases of anthrax; additionally, there is effective and affordable
treatment for persons exposed to or infected with anthrax.\6\ The U.S.
Department of Agriculture--Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's
(USDA-APHIS) Veterinary Services (VS) regulates the importation of
untanned ruminant trophy/craft hide importations for anthrax under 9
CFR 95.16 and this oversight will continue despite CDC's action
removing the importation ban on goatskin handicrafts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\6\ CDC. Use of Anthrax Vaccine. MMWR 2010; 59 (No. RR-6): [1-
30].
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since 1998, there have been five imported anthrax cases reported in
the United States, all of which were associated with imports from
countries

[[Page 41075]]

in Africa, not Haiti.7 8 Four of the five imported cases
have been associated with products imported from West African
countries, and three were associated with drum-making using illegally
imported hides.\9\ The fourth case was associated with a West African
drum that had been in the United States for more than a decade.\10\
This drum was used frequently by community members, with only one case
of anthrax resulting. This indicates a very low risk of anthrax
associated with handling animal-hide drums or attending events where
such drums are played. The fifth imported case, diagnosed in 2018, was
contracted by an individual who had been exposed while working with
wildlife in Namibia. CDC's ban on the importation of goat hide drums
from Haiti would not have reduced the risk of infection for any of the
individuals since 75% of the hides were imported illegally and all
products entered the United States from countries in Africa.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\7\ CDC. Gastrointestinal Anthrax after an Animal-Hide Drumming
Event--New Hampshire and Massachusetts. MMWR, Vol. 59, No. 28, July
23, 2010. 59(28).
\8\ CDC. Inhalation Anthrax Associated with Dried Animal Hides--
Pennsylvania and New York City. MMWR, Vol. 55, No. 10, March 17,
2006 vol. 55, no. 10, 2006
\9\ DC. Cutaneous Anthrax Associated with Drum Making Using Goat
Hides from West Africa--Connecticut, 2007. MMWR 2008; 57:628-631.
\10\ CDC. Gastrointestinal anthrax after an animal-hide drumming
event-New Hampshire and Massachusetts, 2009. MMWR 2010; 59:872-877.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Conclusion
CDC has determined that the prohibition on the importation on
Haitian goatskin drums and handicrafts into the United States is no
longer needed to protect the public's health and should therefore be
rescinded. Anthrax is enzootic (naturally present) in U.S. soils \11\
and there are effective and financially prudent treatments, including
four antibiotics approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) \12\ and available throughout the United States, as well as three
FDA-approved anthrax antitoxin products and a post-exposure
vaccine.\13\ Also, because anthrax exists in other countries and
neither the United States nor the international community are
attempting to eliminate anthrax \14\, there is marginal public health
benefit in a narrowly-focused embargo specific to one country.
Therefore, an anthrax ban that focuses on one country, such as Haiti,
would not be effective. Finally, regulatory oversight by other federal
agencies, such as USDA,\15\ helps to mitigate risk from anthrax
contaminated hides entering the United States, although it does not
reduce the risk to zero. For these reasons, the prohibition on the
importation of goatskin drums and other goatskin handicraft from Haiti
is hereby rescinded.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\11\ Blackburn JK, McNyset KM, Curtis A, Hugh-Jones ME. Modeling
the geographic distribution of Bacillus anthracis, the causative
agent of anthrax disease, for the contiguous US using predictive
ecological [corrected] niche modeling. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2007
Dec;77(6):1103-10. Erratum in: Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2008
Feb;78(2):358. PMID: 18165531.
\12\ Antibiotics for Anthrax Postexposure Prophylaxis--
Prepositioning Antibiotics for Anthrax--NCBI Bookshelf
\13\ CDC. Use of Anthrax Vaccine. MMWR 2010; 59 (No. RR-6): [1-
30].
\14\ World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). (2013). In
Terrestrial Animal Health Code (8.1). Retrieved from <a href="https://www.oie.int/doc/ged/D12825.PDF">https://www.oie.int/doc/ged/D12825.PDF</a>. Accessed: October 5, 2018. Codes and
Manuals--WOAH--World Organisation for Animal Health
\15\ USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, FAIRS Annual Country
Report Annual, December 31, 2020; Section VII--Other Specific
Standards, pp. 10-11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Immediate Action

Effective immediately, for the reasons outlined above, HHS/CDC
rescinds the following: advisory memorandum order banning the
importation of Haitian goatskin handicrafts (August 14, 1981).

David Fitter,
Director, Division of Global Migration Health Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
[FR Doc. 2025-16063 Filed 8-21-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P

</pre></body>
</html>

View on FederalRegister.gov →Plain-text source

Indexed from Federal Register on August 22, 2025.

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.